Potential Efficiency of Grassy or Shrub Willow Buffer Strips against Nutrient Runoff from Soybean and Corn Fields in Southern Quebec, Canada

Riparian buffer strips (RBS) are encouraged to control agricultural diffuse pollution. In Quebec Province, Canada, a policy promotes 3‐m‐wide RBS. Abiding farmers minimally maintain herbaceous vegetation, but nutrient retention efficiency could be improved with woody biomass. This work aimed to assess if fast‐growing willows (Salix miyabeana Seemen ‘SX64’) could reduce nutrient loads to a stream, in addition to yielding biomass. Triplicate treatments of two Salix stem densities and a herbaceous control plot were monitored from 2011 to 2013 in a randomized block design on agricultural fields of the St. Lawrence Lowlands with sandy loam (Saint‐Roch‐de‐l’Achigan [SR]) and organic‐rich (Boisbriand [BB]) soils. Runoff, interstitial water, and water from the saturated zone were sampled 16 (SR) and 14 (BB) times to quantify nutrient buffering (NO3−, NH4+, P, and K). Sampling campaigns followed (i) snowmelt or ≥15‐mm natural precipitation events after (ii) fertilization and (iii) glyphosate‐based herbicide applications. Concentration reduction before and after the RBS was highest for nitrates (77–81% in runoff at BB, 92–98% at 35‐ to 70‐cm depth at SR) just after fertilization, when edge‐of‐field concentrations peaked. Total P removal was observed in runoff after fertilization at SR, and K removal was punctually witnessed at BB. Riparian buffer strips were inefficient for NH4 and dissolved P removal, and RBS effluents exceeded aquatic life protection standards. Salix plantations, irrespective of stem density, were not more efficient than herbaceous RBS. This shows that without fertilizer input reductions, narrow RBS are insufficient to protect streams from excess nutrients in corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] crops. Core Ideas Riparian buffer strips (RBS) are promoted worldwide to preserve water quality. Narrow RBS are commonly planted with herbaceous vegetation. Salix RBS could play a dual role: water filtration and biomass production. Narrow RBS remove some NO32− and total P and K, not dissolved P and NH4+. Herbaceous and Salix RBS are equivalent in filtering diffuse nutrients from row crops.