Hello to all members,
We are working in a wetland which is surrounded by rice fields. Rice straw burning is a management technique that is apply occasionaly. Some weeks ago (3-4 weeks, approximatelly) some nearby fields were burned, and now we´ve observed some peaks in total phosphorus concentrations.
Do you think that could be any link between this two observations?
I would appreciate any advises, helps, recommendations.
Thank you in advance.
Hello Sara,
Burning obviously causes gaseous losses (C, N, S) and there are also entrained particulates that contain not just nutrients but also toxins. How big the deposition may be into surrounding water bodies I do not know.
Thank you very much for your answer, Paul.
We will keep on researching!
Just off the top of my head, I would think it likely that burning straw would lead to an influx of P into a nearby waterbody. Fire is essentially accelerated decomposition; the ash that remains is enriched in P, K, Ca, and other elements because of the selective removal of carbon. Much of this material is either soluble or easily suspended, which means that it would be swiftly carried to the wetland in runoff. A spike in P concentrations therefore seems quite likely.
I agree with Barry, local atmospheric inputs of P from dust and other sources can be very important. It would not surprise me at all that the TP peaks were related to burning. Is there any possibility to do an elemental analysis of the rice straw ash? This might allow you to evaluate whether or not the burning could plausibly have led to the observed increase in wetland P concentrations.
If you want a confirm about the linkage between burning and P raise, I suggest you to measure K, because the increase of this element is surely commencetd with vegetal burning
I agree with my predecessors remarks, burning plant litter is a well-recognised means to release nutrients held in organic matrix to succeeding crop use a sort of man-induced mineralisation. Volatile nutrients are however lost permanently. The ashes produce also alleviate soil acidification, ashes having a basic pH.
Burning has also a curative effect on soil borne diseases and insects even though this is not the issue being discussed.
Therefore as a means to address this pollution, a free buffer zone is recommended that can trap particulate matter in the fly ashes from reaching water bodies as well as those in the soluble form transported in water during surface and base-flow runoff.
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