SFF Project Summary
Riparian zone coppicing hardwoods for reduction of nitrate leaching from dairy farm effluent discharge
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| Website: | www.hortresearch.co.nz |
| Quarterly Update: | September - December 2003 Update |
| Final Report: | Final Report [ PDF
389K] |
Project description
This project will determine the efficacy of using poplars and willows in a self-renewing, coppicing system to reduce the amount of nitrate leaching from dairy shed effluent that would normally be applied to pasture. Secondary to this objective will be the determination of the potential nutritional value of the coppiced plant material for dairy cows and/or other livestock classes.
Dairy shed effluent from holding ponds that would normally be applied to paddocks will be irrigated onto poplar and willow plantings and their ability to reduce and recycle excessive nutrient levels will be determined.
The Problem
Dairy farming is a rapidly increasing land practice and in many cases farms are established alongside waterways that flow into significant catchment areas. On the more intensively farmed land, tile drainage systems are frequently employed allowing excess moisture to be drained from the paddock and into the waterways. Discharge of dairy shed effluent, by irrigation onto paddocks with tile drainage systems, has been shown to have a negative impact on water quality, particularly with regards to high nitrate levels. The amount of discharge will therefore limit the scale and intensity of dairy farming with tile drain systems.
The Opportunity
Poplars and willows are used extensively in New Zealand for soil conservation and riverbank plantings because of their ability to grow quickly in wet areas, establish extensive root systems and remove large amounts of water. In addition their ability to coppice repeatedly makes them promising candidates for use as riparian buffer zone plantings that can utilise dairy effluent for growth, and which can then be cut and fed to other livestock systems or back to the dairy herd (e.g. when dried-off). Poplars and willows offer the following advantages:
Fast growth and biomass development results in high nutrient uptake. Regular coppicing will maintain high evapotranspiration rates (and hence nutrient uptake). Stabilisation of riverbanks, reducing soil erosion and contamination via sediments.
Quarterly Updates
September - December 2003 Update
Quarterly project update for SFF 01/126 "Riparian zone coppicing hardwoods for reduction of nitrate leaching from dairy farm effluent discharge"
The third year of the effluent irrigation trial has now been completed and the trees showed substantially better growth than in 2002/03 when they suffered from a combination of many frosts in October and drought in summer. The fodder harvested in the third amounted to about 14 t DM /ha.
A summary of the work was presented at a field day at Fernglen and another field day is planned for late May to be held at Massey University in conjunction with a project on deferred irrigation of farm dairy effluent.
More information can be found at www.hortresearch.co.nz/projects/dairyeffluent/
