Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream location …

Observations Of Localised Effects Of The Busselton Compensating Basins On Surface Water, Groundwater And Soil Salinity, D L. Bennett, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

Between 2001 and 2009 the Water Corporation constructed three flood-compensating basins on farmland in the Vasse and Sabina river catchments, upstream of in the city of Busselton. The basins are designed to reduce the risk of flooding in urban areas of Busselton by temporarily storing and then regulating runoff during flood events. This report fulfils the reporting requirements of a contract between the Water Corporation and the Department of Agriculture and Food. Data relating to the local groundwater and surface-water dynamics, salinity, nutrients and pH, plus changes to shallow and deep-soil salinity (from repeat ground-based electromagnetic induction [EM] surveying), was …

Automated System To Improve Levelness Of Reconstructed Soil, Venkata Srikiran Bodapati, Larry G. Wells

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Extraction of coal, ores, and minerals from the earth by surface mining has occurred for many years and has always presented a significant challenge with regard to restoration of productive soil to mined areas. Federal and state regulations require that land should be returned to pre-mine productivity or reclaimed as per specific standards following mining. Excessive compaction of reconstructed soil caused by traffic of heavy earth moving equipment has been an enduring challenge regarding successful restoration of soil. A mechanical system was previously designed and developed to reconstruct soil to a depth of 1.22 m (48 in.) while completely avoiding …

Identifying Changes In Climatic Trends And The Fingerprints Of Landuse And Landcover Changes In The High Plains Of The Usa, Denis Mutiibwa

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Human activities such as conversion of natural ecosystem to croplands and urban-centers, deforestation and afforestation impact biophysical properties of land surface such as albedo, energy balance, and surface roughness. Alterations in these properties affect the heat and moisture exchanges between the land surface and atmospheric boundary layer. The objectives of this research were; (i) to quantitatively identify the High plains’ regional climate change in temperatures over the period 1895 to 2006, (ii) detect the signatures of anthropogenic forcing of LULC changes on the regional climate change of the High Plains, and (iii) examine the trends in evolving regional latent heat …

Estimation Of Land Surface Evapotranspiration With A Satellite Remote Sensing Procedure, Ayse Kilic, Ian Ratcliffe, Pariskhit Ranade, Kenneth Hubbard, Ramesh K. Singh, Babuarao Kamble, Jeppe Kjaersgaard

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

There are various methods available for estimating magnitude and trends of evapotranspiration. Bowen ratio energy balance system and eddy correlation techniques offer powerful alternatives for measuring land surface evapotranspiration. In spite of the elegance, high accuracy, and theoretical attractions of these techniques for measuring evapotranspiration, their practical use over large areas can be limited due to the number of sites needed and the related expense. Application of evapotranspiration mapping from satellite measurements can overcome the limitations. The objective of this study was to utilize the METRIC^TM (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration) model in Great Plains environmental …

Integration Of An Extended Octagonal Ring Transducer And Soil Coulterometer For Identifying Soil Compaction, Santosh K. Pitla, Larry G. Wells, Scott A. Shearer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The soil coulterometer is an "on-the-go" electro-mechanical system which collects impedance force data at multiple depths using an oscillating coulter. During the initial testing (summer 2006), only vertical soil impedance force data was collected using a pressure sensor. To improve the performance of the coulterometer, an extended octagonal ring transducer was integrated into the system to collect both the horizontal and vertical impedance forces given by the soil. In the summer of 2007, data was collected using the revised sensor from a typical central Kentucky field setting in a 0.8-ha (2-acre) plot. Four passes were made with the coulterometer. Seventy …

The Land Is In Your Hands : A Practical Guide For Owners Of Small Rural Landholdings In Western Australia, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Wa

Bulletins 4000 -

This Bulletin discusses various aspects of managing a small farm or property in Western Australia, including soil and land care, vegetation and plant control on farm holdings, water resource management, biosecurity, plant, animal and insect pest control and livestock management.

Crop Yield Response To Precision Deep Tillage, Larry G. Wells, Timothy S. Stombaugh, Scott A. Shearer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Experimental precision deep tillage was applied at three sites in central Kentucky with relatively well-drained silt loam soils in no-till crop production. Fields were divided into 0.4 ha (1 ac) grid cells using DGPS mapping. Assessment of soil compaction by machinery traffic was made using multiple soil cone penetrometer measurements and expressed as cone index (CI). Corn, wheat, and soybean yields were depressed in grid cells with CI_avg ≥ 1.5 MPa (218 psi) prior to application of tillage treatments at sites 1 and 3, whereas at site 2, where most of the highest average CI values ranged from 1.44 …

Mole Drainage For Increased Productivity In The South West Irrigation Area, D L. Bennett, Richard George, Bill Russell

Bulletins 4000 -

Heavy soils, with low rates of soil-water movement, such as those found in the South-West Irrigation Area (SWIA), require closely spaced (2-6 m apart) subsoil drainage systems to provide sufficient water movement to control the effects of salt-waterlogging on pastures. Such close spacing using traditional buried pipe or tile drainage systems is impractical. As a result, mole drainage systems, used in other parts of the world for over 50 years, have gained popularity in the SWIA in recent years.

This Bulletin Farmnote reports the current ‘best-bet’ mole draining technique for SWIA conditions gathered from observations over a number of years …

Evaluation Of A Mechanical System For Reconstructing Soil On Surface Mined Land, John P. Fulton, Larry G. Wells

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The existence of excessive soil compaction has hindered the surface mining industry from returning land to pre−mining productivity after reclamation, especially on prime farmland soils. Heavy earthmoving equipment used during reclamation tends to generate root−limiting bulk densities that adversely affect plant growth thereby decreasing yields. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a mechanism, called the ‘Soil Regenerator,’ which reconstructs soil media at minimum bulk density during surface mine reclamation. The prototype soil forming mechanism was mounted on the front of a conventional bulldozer. Soil was placed in long narrow windrows by a scraper or bulldozer. As the …

Statistical Procedures For Evaluating Daily And Monthly Hydrologic Model Predictions, Marilyn E. Coffey, Stephen R. Workman, Joseph L. Taraba, Alex W. Fogle

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The overall study objective was to evaluate the applicability of different qualitative and quantitative methods for comparing daily and monthly SWAT computer model hydrologic streamflow predictions to observed data, and to recommend statistical methods for use in future model evaluations. Statistical methods were tested using daily streamflows and monthly equivalent runoff depths. The statistical techniques included linear regression, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, nonparametric tests, t-test, objective functions, autocorrelation, and cross-correlation. None of the methods specifically applied to the non-normal distribution and dependence between data points for the daily predicted and observed data. Of the tested methods, median objective functions, sign test, autocorrelation, …

The Development Of Relationships Between Constituent Concentrations And Generic Hydrological Variables, Carmen T. Agouridis, Dwayne R. Edwards

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The collection and analysis of samples from storm events constitutes a large portion of the effort associated with water quality research. Estimating concentrations or loads from these events is often difficult. The equipment necessary to analyze the samples and the required laboratory resources are typically significant expenses incurred by the researcher. One potential method to reduce these costs is through the development of generic relationships between concentrations and easily measured variables such as dimensionless flow rate or time. The benefits recognized from such an effort include a reduction in the number of required samples, resulting in a reduction in cost. …

A Mechanical System For Soil Reconstruction, John Patrick Fulton, Larry G. Wells, Timothy D. Smith

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the most perplexing problems associated with reclaiming surface–mined lands is excessive compaction of soil due to the heavy earthmoving equipment used during the reclamation process. Over the years, some innovative material handling schemes have been devised to limit vehicle traffic during reclamation on reconstructed soil. However, final grading operations can often create root–limiting bulk densities, which affect plant growth and yield. The purpose of this article is to describe a mechanism designed at the University of Kentucky whereby mine soil can be reconstructed without introducing compaction caused by surface traffic in order for the soil to sustain desirable …

A Portable Rainfall Simulator For Plot–Scale Runoff Studies, J. Byron Humphry, Tommy C. Daniel, Dwayne R. Edwards, Andrew N. Sharpley

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Rainfall simulators have a long history of successful use in both laboratory and field investigations. Many plot–scale simulators, however, have been difficult to operate and transport in the field, especially in remote locations where water or electricity is unavailable. This article describes a new rainfall simulator that is relatively easy to operate and transport to and from the field while maintaining critical intensity, distribution, and energy characteristics of natural rainfall. The simulator frame is constructed from lightweight aluminum pipe with a single 50 WSQ nozzle centered at a height of 3 m (9.8 ft). An operating nozzle pressure of 28 …

Monitoring Subsurface Drainage Flow At Remote Locations, Stephen R. Workman, Stephen F. Higgins, Scott A. Shearer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Laboratory evaluations and field results are presented for a slotted weir used to measure discharge from subsurface drains. The head–discharge curve for the vertical slot is a simple power function with an exponent of 1.5. There was excellent agreement (r² > 0.99 and 1:1 slope) between predicted and observed discharge in laboratory testing of 12 test weirs representing five slot widths. The primary advantages of the vertical slot weir are its simplicity, ease of maintenance, and ability to measure small flow rates. Disadvantages include a tendency for the slot to close a small amount over time as a result of …

Determining Matric Stress With The Modified Cam Clay Energy Relationship, Richard A. Rohlf, Larry G. Wells

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The stress generated by matric suction, or matric stress, was determined at points along the stress path with an analytical and experimental procedure based on the modified Cam clay energy relationship. Matric stress was found to be approximately constant at large strain for constant water content triaxial compression tests. Matric stress was included in both shear and volume relationships in a critical–state soil model that employed the modified Cam clay yield function. Shear was modeled with a constant matric stress. Slope of the normal compression and recompression lines was adjusted for matric stress using a state function that expressed matric …

Comparing Size In Lime, Mark Whitten

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Extensive research into the management of soil acidity in Western Australia is increasing farmer awareness that lime use can reduce soil acidity and improve crop yields. However, as lime use increases, the question of lime performance and particle size is becoming more critical. Chris Gazey from the Department of Agriculture is heading up the soil acidity project, with the team comprising members from the department, CSIRO and the University of Western Australia. Mark Whitten reports on project outcomes relating to lime particle size.

Evaporation Reduction Potential In An Undisturbed Soil Irrigated With Surface Drip And Sand Tube Irrigation, Masoud Meshkat, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The efficiency of drip irrigation is highly dependent on evaporation losses occurring from the constantly saturated soil beneath emitters. Advent of subsurface drip irrigation is in part an approach to curb this inefficiency. An irrigation method, Sand Tube Irrigation (STI), is proposed to increase the efficiency of “Normal” surface applied drip Irrigation (NI method) on permanent tree crops without the need for burying the irrigation tubing. The sand tube consists of removing a soil core beneath the emitter and filling the void with coarse sand. A weighing lysimeter was constructed in the laboratory and instrumented to directly measure temporal evaporation …

Runoff From Fescue Plots Treated With Trimec, Cristopher G. Moss, Dwayne R. Edwards, Stephen R. Workman, R. Michael Williams

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Runoff of herbicides can promote adverse impacts in receiving waters. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of rainfall delay, herbicide application rate, rainfall intensity, and pre-application rainfall on runoff of TRIMEC (a combination of 2,4-D, dicamba, and mecoprop), a herbicide that is commonly used in central Kentucky. The levels of rainfall delay were 0, 2, and 4 d following application; and the levels of herbicide application rate were 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 times the recommended rate. Simulated rainfall was applied at intensities of 64, 102, and 140 mm h^-1; and the depths of …

Modeling Surface And Subsurface Pesticide Transport Under Three Field Conditions Using Przm-3 And Gleams, Robert W. Malone, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman, Matt E. Byers

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Contaminant transport models should be evaluated over a wide range of conditions to determine their limitations. The models PRZM and GLEAMS have been evaluated many times, but few studies are available in which predicted movement in runoff and percolate were simultaneously evaluated against field data. Studies of this type are essential because pesticide leaching and runoff are mutually dependent processes. For this reason, PRZM-3 and GLEAMS were evaluated for their ability to predict metribuzin concentrations in runoff, sediment, subsurface soil, and pan lysimeters under three field conditions (yard waste compost amended, no-till, and conventional-till) on a Lowell silt loam soil. …

Comparison Of Water And Temperature Distribution Profiles Under Sand Tube Irrigation, Masoud Meshkat, Richard C. Warner, Stephen R. Workman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient systems in delivering water to the plant root zone. Research has shown that the saturated, or nearly saturated, surface beneath the emitter may increase evaporation thereby reducing the irrigation efficiency. To increase the efficiency of surface applied drip irrigation on permanent tree crops a sand tube irrigation (STI) method was developed and tested. The sand tube method consists of removing a soil core beneath the emitter and filling the void with coarse sand. A weighing lysimeter was designed and instrumented to directly measure temporal evaporation during irrigation and for a period of …

Quality Of Runoff From Plots Treated With Municipal Sludge And Horse Bedding, Elizabeth L. Busheé, Dwayne R. Edwards, Philip A. Moore Jr.

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Land application of horse stall bedding and municipal sludge can increase runoff concentrations of nutrients, organic matter, and bacteria as well as steroidal hormones such as estrogen. Concentrations of materials in runoff from sites treated with animal manure can be reduced by aluminum sulfate, or alum [Al₂(SO₄)₃•14H₂O] treatment. The objectives of this study were to assess plots treated with horse stall bedding or municipal sludge for: (a) runoff quality [concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), orthophosphate-phosphorus (PO₄-P), fecal coliform (FC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) …

Effect Of Parameter Distributions On Uncertainty Analysis Of Hydrologic Models, C. Thomas Haan, Daniel E. Storm, T. Al-Issa, Sandeep Prabhu, George J. Sabbagh, Dwayne R. Edwards

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Increasing concern about the accuracy of hydrologic and water quality models has prompted interest in procedures for evaluating the uncertainty associated with these models. If a Monte Carlo simulation is used in an uncertainty analysis, assumptions must be made relative to the probability distributions to assign to the model input parameters. Some have indicated that since these parameters can not be readily determined, uncertainty analysis is of limited value. In this article we have evaluated the impact of parameter distribution assumptions on estimates of model output uncertainty. We conclude that good estimates of the means and variances of the input …

Validating A Vegetative Filter Strip Performance Model, Puneet Srivastava, Thomas A. Costello, Dwayne R. Edwards, James A. Ferguson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Vegetative filter strips (VFS) reduce losses of nutrients, solids, and other materials from land area treated with fertilizers and manures. A number of models are available that simulate nutrient and sediment transport in VFS. While VFS effectiveness is considered to depend on lengths of pollutant source area and VFS areas, few published studies have tried to validate these models using variable pollutant source area and VFS area. The objective of this study was to validate an event-based nutrient transport model (Chaubey et al., 1995) that simulates soluble nutrient transport in VFS. This model links three sub-models: modified Green-Ampt infiltration, non-linear …

Runoff Quality Responses To Cattle-Gazing Strategy And Grassed Buffer Zone Length, Dwayne R. Edwards, Brian T. Larsen, Teng T. Lim

KWRRI Research Reports

Grazed pastures represent a source of potential nonpoint pollution. In comparison to other nonpoint sources (e.g., row-cropped lands), relatively little information exists regarding possible magnitudes of pollution from grazed pasture; how that pollution is affected by weather, soil, management and other variables; and how the pollution can be minimized. The objective of this study was to assess how the quality of runoff from simulated grazed pasture is influenced by grazing duration (4-12 weeks), grazing strategy (no grazing, conventional grazing and rotational grazing), and by the use of grassed buffer strips (ranging in length from O to 18.3 m) installed down-slope …

Vegetative Filter Strip Removal Of Metals In Runoff From Poultry Litter-Amended Fescuegrass Plots, Dwayne R. Edwards, P. A. Moore Jr., Tommy C. Daniel, Puneet Srivastava, D. J. Nichols

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Runoff from land areas amended with poultry (Gallus gallus domesticus) manure can contain elevated concentrations of metals such as Cu, Fe, and Zn. Vegetative filter strips (VFS) can reduce runoff concentrations of animal manure components, but reported studies have typically focused on nutrients and solids rather than metals. This experiment assessed the impact of VFS length (0 to 12 m) on concentrations and mass losses of Cu, Fe, K, Na, Ni, and Zn in runoff from fescuegrass (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) plots (1.5 m wide × 6 and 12 m long) treated with poultry litter. The runoff was produced from simulated …

Evaluation Of The Crop Growth Component Of The Root Zone Water Quality Model For Corn In Ohio, Sue E. Nokes, Feliks M. Landa, Jon D. Hanson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is a computer model developed to simulate water, chemical, and biological processes in the root zone of agricultural management systems. As of this writing RZWQM is in the beta-testing phase of development. This article reports on a parameterization and evaluation study performed in Ohio on field corn for the crop growth component of RZWQM. The generic crop growth model in RZWQM had not previously been parameterized or tested on field corn. This article reports the results of such a study. One year of data was used to calibrate RZWQM, and two additional years …

Comparison Of Daily Water Table Depth Prediction By Four Simulation Models, Eric D. Desmond, Andrew D. Ward, Norman R. Fausey, Stephen R. Workman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Agricultural Drainage And Pesticide Transport (ADAPT) model was compared to the water management simulation models DRAINMOD, SWATREN, and PREFLO. SWATREN and PREFLO are one-dimensional finite-difference models while ADAPT and DRAINMOD are one-dimensional mass balance models. ADAPT, an extension of the computer model GLEAMS, also provides chemical transport information. All four models were tested against field data from Aurora, North Carolina. Observed water table depth data were collected during 1973 through 1977 from a water table management field experiment with three subsurface drain spacing treatments of 7.5, 15, and 30 m.

Both the standard error of estimate and the average …

Performance Of Vegetative Filter Strips With Varying Pollutant Source And Filter Strip Lengths, Puneet Srivastava, Dwayne R. Edwards, Tommy C. Daniel, Philip A. Moore Jr., Thomas A. Costello

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Vegetative filter strips (VFS) can reduce runoff losses of pollutants such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from land areas treated with fertilizers. While VFS effectiveness is considered to depend on lengths of pollutant source and VFS areas, there is little experimental evidence of this dependence, particularly when the pollutant source is manure-treated pasture. This study assessed the effects of pollutant source area (fescue pasture treated with poultry litter) length and VFS (fescue pasture) length on VFS removal of nitrate N (NO₃-N), ammonia N (NH₃-N), total Kjeldahl N (TKN), ortho-P (PO₄-P), total P (TP), …

Vegetative Filter Strip Design For Grassed Areas Treated With Animal Manures, Dwayne R. Edwards, Tommy C. Daniel, Philip A. Moore Jr.

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Vegetative filter strips (VFS) are a low-cost management option that have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing runoff transport of fertilizer constituents applied to grassed areas (pasture or meadow). Runoff quality studies involving fertilizers applied to grassed areas suggest that VFS can be designed by assuming that (1) only infiltration is responsible for pollutant removal, (2) the first post-application runoff event is most important from a water quality perspective (enabling a design event approach), and (3) no pollutant build-up that degrades VFS performance will occur. The purpose of this study was to develop a VFS design algorithm for grassed …