Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 50 - VIRGINIA SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION BOARD › Chapter 85 - NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION REGULATIONS › Section 4VAC50-85-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The words and terms used in this chapter shall have the
				  following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Application rate" or "nutrient rate" means the quantity of
				  major nutrients, nitrogen as N, phosphorus as
				  P2O5, and potassium as
				  K2O on a per acre basis to supply crop or plant nutrient
				  needs, and to achieve realistic expected crop yields.
"Banding" or "sideband" means the placement of fertilizer
				  approximately two inches to the side and two inches below the seed.
"Best management practice" means a conservation or pollution
				  control practice that manages soil, nutrient losses, or other potential
				  pollutant sources to minimize pollution of water resources, such as split
				  applications of nitrogen, or use of cereal grain cover crops to trap available
				  nitrogen and reduce soil erosion.
"Biosolids" means a sewage sludge that has received an
				  established treatment for required pathogen control and is treated or managed
				  to reduce vector attraction to a satisfactory level and contains acceptable
				  levels of pollutants, such that it is acceptable for use for land application,
				  marketing, or distribution in accordance with 9VAC25-31, Virginia Pollutant
				  Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit Regulation, and 9VAC25-32, Virginia
				  Pollution Abatement (VPA) Permit Regulation, of the State Water Control
				  Board.
"Broadcast" means the uniform application of a material over
				  a field.
"Calibration" means the systematic determination of the
				  operational parameters, such as speed and quantity delivered, of application
				  equipment.
"Cereal crop" or "small grain" means barley, rye, triticale,
				  or wheat.
"Certified nutrient management planner" or "nutrient
				  management planner" or "planner" means a person who holds a current Virginia
				  nutrient management certificate of competence.
"Cool season grass" means grass species of temperate zone
				  origin which exhibit the greatest rates of dry matter production in the
				  day/night temperature range of 60°/50°F to 80°/70°F. Examples
				  of cool season grasses include fescue, bluegrass, and ryegrass.
"Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of Virginia.
"Composted organic nutrient source" means the relatively
				  stable, humus-like product resulting from the controlled aerobic, thermophilic
				  biological decomposition of organic material that bears little physical
				  resemblance to the raw materials from which it originated.
"Cover crop" means a crop including, but not limited to,
				  cereal grains, which is planted following the harvest of the preceding crop for
				  the purpose of:
1. Seasonal protection of soil, or
2. Assimilation of residual soil nitrogen left from a
				  previous crop or from continued mineralization of nitrogen.
"Crop" means cultivated plants or agricultural produce such
				  as grain, silage, forages, oilseeds, vegetables, fruit, nursery stock, or
				  turfgrass.
"Cropland" means land used for the production of grain,
				  oilseeds, silage, industrial crops, and any other category of crop not defined
				  as specialty crop, hay, or pasture.
"Crop nutrient needs" means the primary nutrient requirements
				  of a crop determined as pounds per acre or pounds per 1,000 square feet of
				  nitrogen as N, phosphorus as
				  P2O5, and potassium as
				  K2O required to support crop growth for production of an
				  expected crop yield based upon soil analysis results as specified in Virginia
				  Nutrient Management Standards and Criteria, revised July 2014, or Virginia
				  Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations for 2005.
"Crop nutrient removal" means the amount of nutrients per
				  acre expected to be taken up by a plant and removed from the site in the
				  harvested portion at the expected yield level, generally expressed as tons per
				  acre or bushels per acre, at rates specified in Virginia Nutrient Management
				  Standards and Criteria, revised July 2014.
"Crop rotation" means one complete sequence of one or more
				  crops grown in succession that may assist in minimizing disease, insects and
				  weeds. For permanent hay, pasture, or a single crop planted continuously, the
				  crop rotation is defined as the life of the nutrient management plan.
"Department" means the Department of Conservation and
				  Recreation.
"Double crop" means the production and harvesting of two
				  crops in succession within a consecutive 12-month growing season.
"Dry manure" or "semisolid manure" means manure containing
				  less than 85.5% moisture.
"Environmentally sensitive site" means any field which is
				  particularly susceptible to nutrient loss to groundwater or surface water since
				  it contains or drains to areas which contain sinkholes, or where at least 33%
				  of the area in a specific field contains one or any combination of the
				  following features:
1. Soils with high potential for leaching based on soil
				  texture or excessive drainage;
2. Shallow soils less than 41 inches deep likely to be
				  located over fractured or limestone bedrock;
3. Subsurface tile drains;
4. Soils with high potential for subsurface lateral flow
				  based on soil texture and poor drainage;
5. Floodplains as identified by soils prone to frequent
				  flooding in county soil surveys; or
6. Lands with slopes greater than 15%.
"Expected crop yield" means a realistic crop yield for a
				  given farm field determined by using yield records or soil productivity
				  information.
"Fertilizer" means any organic or inorganic material of
				  natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply certain nutrients
				  essential to plant growth.
"Field" means a unit of contiguous nonwooded land generally
				  used for crop production that is separated by permanent boundaries, such as
				  fences, permanent waterways, woodlands, croplines not subject to change because
				  of farming practices, and other similar features or as determined by the United
				  States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency.
"Field identification number" means a number used by a farmer
				  (or the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency) to
				  distinguish or identify the location of a field on a farm.
"Grid soil sampling" means a process whereby farm fields or
				  other areas are subdivided into smaller areas or squares for the purpose of
				  obtaining more detailed soil analysis results.
"Groundwater" means any water beneath the land surface in a
				  water saturated layer of soil or rock.
"Hay" means a grass, legume, or other plants, such as clover
				  or alfalfa, which is cut and dried for feed, bedding, or mulch.
"Hydrologic soil group" means a classification of soils into
				  one of four groups, A, B, C, or D, according to their hydrologic properties,
				  ranging from low runoff potential (high infiltration potential) in group A to
				  high runoff potential (low infiltration potential) in group D.
"Incorporation" means the process whereby materials are mixed
				  into soils and not exposed on the soil surface, such as would be achieved by
				  disking one time to a depth of six inches.
"Industrial waste" means liquid or other waste resulting from
				  any process of industry, manufacture, trade or business, or from the
				  development of any natural resources.
"Irrigation" means the application of water to land to assist
				  in crop growth.
"Irrigation scheduling" means the time and amount of
				  irrigation water to be applied to an area for optimum crop growth and to
				  minimize leaching and runoff.
"Leaching" means the movement of soluble material, such as
				  nitrate, in solution through the soil profile by means of percolation.
"Legume" means a plant capable of fixing nitrogen from the
				  atmosphere such as peas, soybeans, peanuts, clovers, and alfalfas.
"Legume nitrogen credit" means the amount of nitrogen a
				  legume is expected to supply to a succeeding crop.
"Liming" means the application of materials containing the
				  carbonates, oxides, or hydroxides of calcium or magnesium in a condition and in
				  a quantity suitable for neutralizing soil acidity.
"Liquid manure" means manure containing at least 85.5%
				  moisture or which can be applied through subsurface injection or surface
				  application with liquid application equipment.
"Livestock" means domesticated animals such as cattle,
				  chickens, turkeys, hogs, and horses raised for home use or for profit.
"Manure" or "animal waste" means animal fecal and urinary
				  excretions and waste byproducts, which may include spilled feed, bedding
				  litter, soil, lactase, process wastewater, and runoff water from animal
				  confinement areas.
"Mehlich I" means the North Carolina Double-Acid soil
				  analysis procedure to determine extractable levels of certain nutrients in
				  soils as described in Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 3, Chemical Methods,
				  1996.
"Mehlich III" or "Mehlich 3" means a modified version of the
				  Mehlich I method used to determine extractable levels of certain nutrients in
				  soils as described in Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 3, Chemical Methods, 1996
				  and in Reference Soil and Media Diagnostic Procedures for the Southern Region
				  of the United States, Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin No. 374.
"Micronutrient" means a nutrient necessary only in extremely
				  small amounts for plant growth.
"Mineralization" means the process when plant unavailable
				  organic forms of nutrients are converted to a plant available inorganic state
				  as a result of soil microbial decomposition.
"No-till" means the soil is left undisturbed from the time of
				  harvest or the killing of the preceding crop or cover crop until and including
				  the time of planting of the current crop except for strips up to 1/3 of the row
				  width that are disturbed by coulters or disk openers during the planting
				  operation.
"NRCS" means the United States Department of Agriculture,
				  Natural Resource Conservation Service, formerly the Soil Conservation Service
				  (SCS).
"Nutrient" means an element or compound essential as raw
				  materials for plant growth and development such as carbon, nitrogen, and
				  phosphorus.
"Nutrient content" means the percentage of any primary
				  nutrients such as nitrogen as N, phosphorus as
				  P2O5, and potassium as
				  K2O contained in any type or source of plant
				  nutrients.
"Nutrient management plan" or "plan" means a plan prepared by
				  a Virginia certified nutrient management planner to manage the amount,
				  placement, timing, and application of manure, fertilizer, biosolids, or other
				  materials containing plant nutrients in order to reduce nutrient loss to the
				  environment and to produce crops.
"Nutrient Management Training and Certification Fund" means
				  the fund established by § 10.1-104.2 of the Code of Virginia to support
				  the department's Nutrient Management Training and Certification Program.
"Organic nutrient source" or "organic source" means manure,
				  biosolids, sludge, industrial waste, green manure, compost, or other plant or
				  animal residues which contain plant nutrients.
"Organic residuals" means nutrients released over time from
				  manure, biosolids, industrial wastes, legumes, or other organic sources of
				  nutrients.
"Pasture" means land which supports the grazing of animals
				  for forages.
"Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership,
				  association, a governmental body and its subordinate units, a municipal
				  corporation or any other legal entity.
"Phosphorus index" means the Virginia Phosphorus Index
				  Version 2.0 Technical Guide, revised October 2005.
"Phosphorus saturation level" means the ratio of phosphorus
				  to aluminum plus iron (P/(Al+Fe)) in a soil using the Acid Ammonium Oxalate in
				  Darkness method described in Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 3, Chemical
				  Methods, 1996 (pp. 649-650) or estimated with another extraction procedure
				  correlated to the Acid Ammonium Oxalate in Darkness method and approved by the
				  department.
"Plant available nutrients" means the portion of nutrients
				  contained in nutrient sources which is expected to be available for potential
				  use by plants during the growing season or the crop rotation.
"Pre-sidedress nitrate test" or "PSNT" means a procedure used
				  to determine soil nitrate-nitrogen levels at a specific time during a corn crop
				  growing season.
"Primary nutrients" means nitrogen as N, phosphorus as
				  P2O5, and potassium as
				  K2O.
"Residual nutrients" means the level of nitrogen, phosphorus,
				  and potassium remaining or available in the soil from previously applied
				  nutrient sources, or unharvested plants or plant parts, or naturally occurring
				  nutrient levels in the soil.
"Runoff" means that part of precipitation, snow melt, or
				  irrigation water that runs off the land into streams or other surface water
				  which can carry pollutants from the land.
"RUSLE2" means the USDA-NRCS Revised Universal Soil Loss
				  Equation Version 2 software package.
"Secondary nutrient" means calcium, magnesium, or
				  sulfur.
"Sewage sludge" or "sludge" means any solid, semisolid, or
				  liquid residues which contain materials removed from municipal or domestic
				  wastewater during treatment including primary and secondary residues. Other
				  residuals or solid wastes consisting of materials collected and removed by
				  sewage treatment, septage, and portable toilet wastes are also included in this
				  definition. Liquid sludge contains less than 15% dry residue by weight or can
				  be applied through subsurface injection or surface application with liquid
				  application equipment. Dewatered sludge contains 15% or more dry residue by
				  weight.
"Shall" means a mandatory requirement.
"Should" means a recommendation.
"Sidedress" means the placement of fertilizer beside or
				  between the rows of a crop after crop emergence.
"Sinkhole" means a depression in the earth's surface caused
				  by dissolving of underlying limestone, salt, or gypsum having drainage patterns
				  through underground channels.
"Slope" means the degree of deviation of a surface from
				  horizontal, measured as a percentage, as a numerical ratio, or in
				  degrees.
"Slowly available nitrogen" means nitrogen sources that have
				  delayed plant availability involving compounds which dissolve slowly, materials
				  that must be microbially decomposed, or soluble compounds coated with
				  substances highly impermeable to water such as polymer coated products,
				  methylene urea, isobutylidene diurea (IBDU), urea formaldehyde based (UF),
				  sulfur coated urea, and natural organics.
"Soil erosion" or "erosion" or "soil loss" means the wearing
				  away of the land surface by water, wind, or waves.
"Soil management group" means a grouping of soils based on
				  their similarity in profile characteristics which affect crop production and
				  require specific soil and crop management practices.
"Soil pH level" means the negative logarithm of the
				  hydrogen-ion activity of a soil which measures the relative acidity or
				  alkalinity of the soil. The pH level affects the availability and plant
				  utilization of nutrients.
"Soil productivity group" means a grouping of soils based
				  upon expected yield levels for a given crop type.
"Soil series" means a classification of a specific soil type
				  by name based on the morphological, chemical and physical properties of the
				  soil.
"Soil survey" means a published or electronically available
				  document developed by a governmental entity using the standards and protocols
				  of the National Cooperative Soil Survey that includes detailed descriptions and
				  classifications of soils, mapping of various soil series, and the
				  interpretation of soils according to their adaptability for various crops and
				  trees.
"Specialty crop" means vegetables, tree crops, perennial vine
				  crops, ornamentals, horticultural crops, and other similar crops.
"Split application" means utilizing a sequence of two or more
				  nutrient applications, separated by approximately three weeks or more, to a
				  single crop in order to improve nutrient uptake efficiency.
"Surface water" means all water whose surface is exposed to
				  the atmosphere.
"Tilled" means soil is disturbed between the time of harvest
				  of the preceding crop through the time of planting of the current crop in that
				  greater than 1/3 of the row width is disturbed by tillage implements such as
				  moldboard plows, chisel plows, subsoilers, disks, field cultivators,
				  roto-tillers, coulters or disk openers.
"Tillering" means the formation of lateral shoots from the
				  axillary buds of small grains and grasses.
"Tissue test" means an analysis of crop tissue for the
				  percentage of nitrogen at key growth stages, and used as an intensive nutrient
				  management technique with small grain crops.
"Topdress" means broadcast applications of fertilizer on
				  crops such as small grains or forage after crop emergence has occurred.
"Trap crop" means a timely planted cereal crop for the
				  purposes of capturing residual soil nitrogen and nitrogen that is released
				  during the decomposition of manure or biosolids in order to manage limited
				  manure or sewage sludge storage availability.
"Turfgrass" means selected grass species planted or sodded
				  and managed for such uses as home lawns, golf courses, office parks and
				  rights-of-way.
"Volatilization" means a process by which nitrogen is lost to
				  the atmosphere as ammonia gas.
"Warm season grass" means a grass species of tropical origin
				  that exhibits the highest rate of dry matter production in the day/night
				  temperature range of 90°/79°F at a minimum to a maximum of
				  97°/88°F. Examples of warm season grasses include zoysia and bermuda
				  grasses.
"Water insoluble nitrogen" or "WIN" means the amount of a
				  type of slowly available nitrogen listed on fertilizer bags and reported as a
				  percentage.
"Watershed" means a drainage area or basin in which all land
				  and water areas drain or flow toward a central collector such as a stream,
				  river, or lake at a lower elevation.
"Watershed code" means the letter and number used by the
				  department to identify a watershed or hydrologic unit area.
"Zadoks' growth stage" means the numerical scale ranging from
				  0-93 which assigns values to small grain growth stages, e.g. Growth Stage 30 is
				  just prior to the stem elongation phase in wheat growth.
Statutory Authority: § 10.1-104.2 of the Code of
					 Virginia.