Regional variations of cow and pig fecal pollution as a function of nutrients & hydrological factors
Session: 39. - Managing Agriculture Water and Nutrients - Science Solutions for Tomorrows BMPs
Jean Pierre Nshimyimana, Michigan State University , [email protected]
Sherry Martin, Michigan State University, [email protected]
Matthew Flood, Michigan State University, [email protected]
Marc Verhougstraete, Community, Environment & Policy Depart., Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona , [email protected]
David Hyndman, Michigan State University, [email protected]
Joan Rose, Michigan State University, [email protected]
Abstract
The effects of manure application in agriculture on surface water quality has become a local and global problem. We evaluated: (1) the spatial distribution of cow and pi genetic markers, (2) how hydrologic factors influenced cow and pig markers, and (3) variations in cow and pig markers as a function of land use, nutrients, and physiochemical factors. We sampled 63 watersheds in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula during baseflow (BF), spring melt (SM), and summer rain (SR). We quantified the concentrations of cow and pig markers by digital droplet PCR and measured E. coli, DO, pH, temperature, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate-nitrite (NOX), ammonia (NH3), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), streamflow, and watershed specific precipitation. The occurrence of cow and pig markers were lowest during BF, highest during SM for pig, and highest during SR for cow. Cow and pig markers varied with land use, but not with riparian buffer zone. Streamflow was the strongest predictor of cow and pig markers concentrations in SM and cow marker in BF, while nutrients (TP, TN, and SRP) were strongest predictors in SR. Different types of manure exhibited different transport patterns and mechanisms, which were connected to land based activities and other water parameters.
1. Keyword
watersheds
2. Keyword
nutrients
4. Additional Keyword
cow and pig Bacteroidales-associated genetic marker
5. Additional Keyword
Streamflows
6. Additional Keyword
Land use