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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290261
Title: Amino compounds in poultry litter, litter-amended pasture soils and grass shoots

Author
item He, Zhongqi
item SENWO, ZACHARY - Alabama A & M University
item ZOU, HAIXUAN - University Of Maine
item TAZISONG, IRENUS - Alabama A & M University
item Martens, Dean

Submitted to: Pedosphere
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/3/2014
Publication Date: 3/7/2014
Citation: He, Z.Q., Senwo, Z.N., Zou, H.X., Tazisong, I.A., Martens, D.A. 2014. Amino compounds in poultry litter, litter-amended pasture soils and grass shoots. Pedosphere. 24:178-185.

Interpretive Summary: Efficient use of animal manure as N fertilizer depends on a thorough understanding of how its inorganic NH4 and organic N components cycle in the soil. Amino compounds (ACs) are of particular significance to N cycling in soils because they may store 35–80% of total soil N. IN this work, we investigated the distributions of ACs in poultry litter (PL) and to evaluate the impact of long-term PL applications on soil and plant ACs compositions. Our data indicated that the levels of ACs in these PL samples were higher than those in literature reported in 1974, which may partly reflect trends of higher inputs of protein feedstuff in poultry farming. PL application increased soil total and individual AC contents with a distribution pattern similar to that of AC in PL. Application of PL also increased the AC contents in grass leaves. However, it was not conclusive from the leave AC data whether or not the plant took up intact soil ACs. Information derived from this study will increase our knowledge on the bioavailability of animal manure ACs and their impacts on sustainable and environmentally-freindly agricultural production.

Technical Abstract: Organic N accounts for 95-98% of total soil N contents with amino compounds (ACs) as major ingredients. But relatively little is known about the effects of poultry litter (PL) application on soil AC pools and turnover. In this work, we determined 21 AC contents in 23 PL samples, 15 soil samples with 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 yr of PL applications in three soil layers, and five grass leave samples grown on these pasture fields to evaluate the impact of long-term PL application on soil and plant AC compositions. Our data indicated that the levels of ACs in these PL samples were higher than those in literature reported in 1974, which may partly reflect trends of higher inputs of protein feedstuff in poultry farming. PL application increased soil total and individual AC contents with a distribution pattern similar to that of AC in PL. However, the impact was more complex than simple build-up of PL ACs in soils as the highest AC-N concentrations were observed in soils with 10- or 15-year PL applications, inconsistent with the order of annual applied rates or cumulative applied PL amounts. Application of PL increased the AC contents in grass leaves whereby the highest increase of most ACs was with the leaves from fields that received PL for 5 yr (from 10.5 mg total AC-N g-1 in control to 23.7 mg total AC-N g-1). However, it was not conclusive from the leave AC-N data whether or not the plant took up intact soil ACs.