Characterization of Spatial and Temporal Nutrients Leaching Patterns in a Central Kentucky Pasture Undergoing Forage Renovation.

Nutrient losses from agricultural lands to ground and surface water bodies is identified as a major non-point source pollution. In central Kentucky, potential effects of forage transition to overcome problems related to animal growth and productivity are exacerbated by the underlying karst topography. Numerous sinkholes that develop in this landscape provide rapid conduits for surface contaminants into shallow groundwater resources. Transition to forages more palatable to grazing animals may alter soil organic matter dynamics and consequently affect soil aggregation, soil structure, and soil hydraulic characteristics that control water flow and solute transport and may cause unintended detrimental effects with respect to groundwater quality. The objectives of this study were to assess the potential effect of forage renovation on transpoert and net nutrient leaching fluxes under field scale conditions and and to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of nutrients leaching under different forages and their spatial association with hydrological and physiochemical parameters that control transport processes.