Concentrations of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Total Soluble Salts in Soil Solution Samples from Fertilized and Unfertilized Histosols

Abstract

Abstract Lake Apopka, in central Florida, ranked at one time among the most productive bass and panfish bodies of water in the United States. During recent years this lake became highly eutrophic and fishing declined drastically. Farming operations on the rich organic soil along the northern shore of the lake were implicated as one cause of this eutrophication. In an attempt to measure agriculture's contributions to the nutrient concentration in the lake, soil solution samples were extracted from uncleared, swampy Everglades mucky peat; newly cleared, drained Everglades mucky peat; and Everglades mucky peat that had been under cultivation for approximately 15 years. Nitrate‐N, orthophosphate P, and K concentrations were relatively low in soil solution samples from the swampy area. Concentrations of each nutrient in soil solution extracted at the 60‐cm depth in the newly cleared area increased by as much as 8 to 12 times as compared to the 60‐cm depth in the swampy area. Further increases were noted in the cultivated area. Indications were that the peat itself was a heavy contributor of nutrients to the drainage water.