Estimation of runoff phosphorus losses from calcareous soils of Talkherood Watershed using rainfall simulator

Phosphorus (P) loss in runoff can promotes weed and algae growth in water systems as a result of high concentrations of surface water P. As a result, relationship between available soil P and P concentrations is necessary for management of P concentrations in surface waters and for critical soil P determination. For this purpose, from 30 points of Talkherood Watershed surface soil samples with widely available P contents were selected. After determining some of general properties, four soil P tests including Olsen, Mehlich-3, Iron oxide and Soltanpour were measured. Then, soil samples were poured with imperative compaction and rainfall was applied onto 30×60 cm soil boxes on a 5% slope for 30 minutes by applying 75 mm h-1 rainfall. Their runoff was sampled in different times and their dissolved P concentration was measured. Significant correlation was obtained between dissolved runoff P and the four methods of available P for the soils. Critical concentrations of phosphorus for Olsen, Mehlich-3, Iron oxide, and Soltanpour methods were 86, 140, 52 and 49 mg l-1, respectively. Also, the four methods showed critical dissolved runoff P concentrations in narrow range of 0.38 to 0.4 mg l-1.