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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Southeast Watershed Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #375193
Research Project: Integrating Animal and Industrial Enterprise Byproducts in Gulf Atlantic Coastal Plain Cropping Systems for Enhancing Productivity, Efficiency, and Resiliency of Agroecosystems

Location: Southeast Watershed Research

Title: Worried about Phosphorus from broiler litter? Flue gas desulfurized gypsum to the rescue!

Author
item ENDALE, DINKU
item Strickland, Timothy - Tim
item Pisani, Oliva
item Schomberg, Harry
item Bosch, David - Dave
item Coffin, Alisa

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2020
Publication Date: 11/9/2020
Citation: Endale, D.M., Strickland, T.C., Pisani, O., Schomberg, H.H., Bosch, D.D., Coffin, A.W. 2020. Worried about Phosphorus from broiler litter? Flue gas desulfurized gypsum to the rescue!. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting | November | PRELIMINARY.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The poultry production industry in the US generates a byproduct – manure – that has many agronomic and agro-ecosystem service benefits when used in agriculture. Repeated application, especially targeted at crop N requirement, can lead to undesirable soil and water quality outcomes such as phosphorus (P) and heavy metal accumulation in soil and P loss in runoff. Flue gas desulfurized gypsum (FGDG; CaSO4.2H2O) amendment of soils has the potential to reduce some of these undesirable outcomes. In micro-plots under corn (3.05 m wide by 5.49 m long), we applied high rates (13.45 Mg/ha/year) of broiler litter (BL) and FGDG for three years and lower rates (4.48 Mg/ha/year) for the subsequent three years. Impact on runoff quality were examined from ten treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications, consisting of inorganic, inorganic + FGDG, BL, and BL+FGDG fertilization. There was either no grass buffer or buffer (3.05 m wide by 6.10 m long) with or without FGDG amendment between plots and runoff collecting and sampling systems. We consistently observed that plots fertilized with BL + FGDG, and having buffers amended with FGDG, showed >50% lower concentration and load of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and dissolved reactive and total phosphorus compared with plots with no amendment and no buffer.