DEVELOPMENT OF NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLANNING
AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT SOFTWARE
R. Hill, P. Steinhilber, and F. Coale.
Dep. of Natural Resource Sciences & Landscape Architecture
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
rh30@umail.umd.edu
The Maryland Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998 initiated the most comprehensive
nutrient management planning requirements in the United States. The law requires that mandatory
nutrient management plans be filed and implemented within the state of Maryland. Crop fields with
high soil test phosphorus levels must have plans that evaluate a field site=s potential for phosphorus
loss through the use of a Phosphorus Site Index environmental risk assessment calibrated for
Maryland conditions. Phosphorus risk assessment additionally requires an assessment of soil erosion
since sediment-bound phosphorus may potentially be a significant phosphorus loss pathway.
Designing plans for the implementation of these nutrient management and environmental risk
assessment requirements can be a very complicated process. Microsoft Windows software tools were
needed that would make it possible for nutrient management consultants and farmers to meet the
requirements of the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998.
Research was proposed in 1998 and initiated in 1999 for the creation of such software tools.
The Maryland Department of the Environment competitively funded a proposal for the creation of
software to calculate the Maryland Phosphorus Site Index. The Maryland Department of Agriculture
funded a proposal for the creation of Windows-based software for developing nutrient
recommendations for crops. The combination of these two grants with support from the College of
Agriculture & Natural Resources provided a sufficient level of support to successfully complete the
proposed research. Concurrent development of both software products allowed for coordination of
design efforts with the ultimate goal of developing and combining the nutrient management planning
software, the phosphorus site index software, and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation software
into a comprehensive nutrient management planning tool.
Guidelines established for software development included:
(1).
The software would be Windows-based so that it would easily run on Windows 95, 98, NT,
or 2000 operating systems.
(2).
The software would be developed with a high level programming language (Microsoft
Visual C++).
(3).
The software would be user-friendly with pull down menu choices for soil properties and
help screen support.
(4). The software would produce both written reports and scenario files that could be
electronically submitted for regulatory compliance or record keeping at a future date.
(5).
An object-oriented programming approach would be used where possible so that modules
may be reused in future versions with minimal revision to the modules.
(6).
The program code would be Asoft-coded@ in that variable names instead of numerical values
would be used with values supplied via attribute files. These attribute files could be edited by
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authorized scientists and the software program easily updated.
An initial issue that needed addressing was that soil properties information, necessary when
using the Phosphorus Site Index, for several Maryland counties was not readily available because of
soil survey updates being conducted. Maryland NRCS also stated there were an insufficient number
of soil surveys available to meet the needs of statewide implementation of the phosphorus site index.
An interim software product entitled Phosphorus Index Properties for Soil (PIPS) was created and
released in January 2000. Queries of the USDA-NRCS National Soils Information System (NASIS)
database were conducted for each of the twenty three Maryland counties. The results of these queries
were then placed in a Windows program with an easy-to-use interface.
The Maryland Phosphorus Site Index (PSI) software was released in April 2001 as a water
quality planning tool to evaluate the risk potential of phosphorus losses from agricultural lands. The
Windows-based software evaluates the P loading risk assessment for controlling phosphorus losses
in a rapid, efficient, and easy-to-use manner. The PSI program includes all the information
previously furnished in the Maryland Phosphorus Site Index Properties for Soils (PIPS) software
product. The PSI program furnishes information necessary for calculating the PSI in Maryland and
includes soil mapping unit information for each Maryland county, soil leaching potentials, and
watershed information. Features include evaluating the impacts of buffer areas and the impacts of
split applications of manure and/or fertilizer on the PSI. The program includes a farmer and
consultant input screen, a field information input screen, and screens for Parts A and B of the
Maryland Phosphorus Site Index. Color-coded backgrounds were used to differentiate entry box use
within the program. The background color of the Total P Loss Rating box is green for low, pale
yellow for medium, dark yellow for high, and pink for very high. Options include weighted multiple
applications and methods for fertilizer and/or organic materials and conversion of eight laboratories
soil test results to Maryland fertility index values. Although a single field is addressed in the active
window, the user may address and save information for up to 999 fields in a single file. Information
may be printed on any Windows accessible printer in single or multiple field formats. Manual
calculation of the Maryland PSI had proven burdensome to nutrient management consultants.
Although the consultant is required to enter Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation information and
site specific information into the computer, the program can easily save 30 or more minutes for each
field on which the PSI calculation is completed.
The Nutrient Management for Maryland (NuMan MD) software was released in December
2001. NuMan MD operates in any 32-bit Windows environment and is much more versatile and
easier-to-use than the FERTREC DOS-based software which it replaces. The software facilitates the
use of organic wastes and fertilizers to meet crop needs in an efficient and easy-to-use manner. The
program includes a farmer and consultant input screen, a crop/field information input screen, a soil
test input screen, and screens for crop nutrient inputs from organic and/or fertilizer sources. The
program will produce nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium based plans and accounts for annual
legume and/or organic nitrogen carry-overs, pre-sidedress nitrogen testing, and file-based soil test
inputs. Split applications of the same or different organic wastes may be applied. The software has
recommendations for over 200 crop/management scenarios and mineralization coefficients for 28
types of organic wastes. Options are available to calculate crop-based phosphorus removal and/or
have recommendations in different units. The software produces written reports, but also saves
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information in files for electronic report submission. The user may address and save information for
up to 999 fields in a single file. NuMan MD is also compatible with existing FERTREC databases
in that the new program will allow the extraction and insertion of information from previous
FERTREC nutrient management planning efforts.
The Maryland Nutrient Management Software Laboratory is presently developing software
that will integrate the calculations for the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model. This
Windows-based software will allow the calculation of average annual soil erosional losses on a field
basis in an easy-to-use manner. The laboratory also plans to merge the Maryland Phosphorus Site
Index software, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation software, and the Maryland Nutrient
Management software into a combined product tentatively named Maryland Nutrient Management
for Professionals (NuMan MD Pro). It is anticipated the NuMan MD Pro software will go into beta-
testing in early 2003 with a planned release in mid-2003.
The development of these nutrient management and environmental risk assessment software
packages have provided the tools necessary for the agricultural community in Maryland to meet the
nutrient management planning requirements of the Maryland Water Quality Improvement Act of
1998. Nutrient management planning and environmental risk assessment software is critically
important to facilitate plan development in a timely fashion for the appropriate utilization of organic
wastes and fertilizers in an environmentally safe manner.
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