Runoff From Tall Fescue Pastures in Watkinsville GA.

We monitored runoff from 14 tall fescue paddocks, 0.9- to 1.1-ha each near Watkinsville GA, from April 2002 to April 2010 in a randomized complete block experiment under combinations of a grazing (grazed or hayed), fertilization (poultry litter or inorganic) and tall fescue type (high endophyte high alkaloid, high endophyte low alkaloid, and endophyte free) treatments. A maximum of 77 runoff events were recorded in one paddock while others had less influenced by drought. There were on average 4 times as many runoff events per month during the near normal, and 16 times as many during the wet and wetter period, as those in the dry and drier period according to the Standardized Precipitation Index classification.  Fertilizer and fertilizer by fescue interactions in grazed paddocks had significant effect on runoff, whereas main effects of fescue type and harvest methods (graze versus hay) did not. Inorganically fertilized paddocks had 30% greater runoff than those with broiler litter fertilization. The largest runoff amount occurred with inorganic fertilizer and endophyte-free fescue.