Began the week by helping with the rainfall simulator project. We did the same trials as last week using the same pans of manure treated soil. Through doing multiple weeks of testing we are able to determine the nutrient and sediment loss from runoff and infiltration over multiple rain events. We ran the rain simulator for the three trials, recorded the weights of the collected water, and took samples of each collection container.
There is still one more week of rain fall simulation trials but the next day we began analyzing the sediment in the samples taken these past two weeks. To do this we set up beakers connected to an air suction system. The beakers had a special funnel on top of them that has a permeable top. We placed a piece of filter paper on top of the funnels and clamped a glass tube on top to hold the filter in place and allow us to pour the samples. Once set up we would turn on the air and pour a sample onto the filter paper. Since we still need to test the nutrient content of the leftover liquid, for each sample we poured the liquid from the beaker back into the test tube. The filter papers with the collected sediment were each labeled and will be dried in an oven. This process ended up being quite tedious since after each sample we needed to clean and thoroughly dry all of the glassware. If we left water in the beaker that catches the liquid then the nutrient concentration of the sample would be altered. We also had challenges labeling the sediment samples since the filter paper was wet causing the ink to bleed.
On Tuesday morned I attended the Cornell seed growers day with other interns and staff. During the event I got to see all the different grain and cover crop trials at the research farm. We learned about wheat, oats, rye, and malting barley and both spring and winter varieties. We also learned about lentils, hemp, red clover, alfalfa, and intercropping trials. It was interesting to see all the different varieties next to each other allowing me to see the subtle differences in color, height, maturity, and grain. It was also interesting to hear about the benefits and challenges of specific intercropping techniques.
I ended the week by collecting the tile drainage samples in Auburn. This week Frank was away though, so I was on my own. The flow rates seemed to be higher in two of the locations, but one was still not flowing. I have also spent some time updating volunteer schedules for the North American Manure Expo.