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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Soil Dynamics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #390122
Research Project: Sustaining Productivity and Ecosystem Services of Agricultural and Horticultural Systems in the Southeastern United States

Location: Soil Dynamics Research

Title: Phosphorus solubility in traditional versus gypsum treated poultry litter

Author
item CHAKRABORTY, D - Auburn University
item PRASAD, R - Auburn University
item Watts, Dexter
item Torbert, Henry - Allen

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2021
Publication Date: 11/7/2021
Citation: Chakraborty, D., Prasad, R., Watts, D.B., Torbert III, H.A. 2021. Phosphorus solubility in traditional versus gypsum treated poultry litter [abstract]. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, Nov. 7-10, 2021, Salt Lake City, UT.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: With a surge in world population, there is an increasing demand of poultry products leading to generation of enormous volumes of poultry litter (PL is a mixture of feces, spilled feed, and bedding materials). Although PL is an excellent source of fertilizer, however, it is bulky which prevents its long distance transportation. This limitation in transportation promotes excess PL application in localized areas of high density poultry operations leading to increased risks of phosphorus (P) transport during runoff events. More than 50% of P in PL is water soluble and can be lost during runoff events. Use of amendments such as gypsum can be used to reduce P solubility in PL and hence can be used as an effective PL management strategy to reduce environmental P loss risk. The objective of this study was to understand P availability in traditional versus gypsum treated PL for environmental risk assessment. Treatments included PL mixed with gypsum at 1600 lb/1000 ft2, PL treated with industry standard PLT (sodium hydrogen sulphate) @ 100 lb/1000ft2 and control (litter decaked with no amendments). After air drying, PL was characterized for pH, total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total P (TP), and total elements (calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper, iron, aluminum). Repeated water extractions at 1:100 PL:water ratio were conducted for seven cycles to understand the P desorption for gypsum treated and untreated PL. Phosphorus fractionation was also performed on all the samples following modified Hedley procedure. The mean TP content in the litter samples was 1.6% and TN content varied between 1.8 to 3.6 %. Preliminary findings indicated that gypsum treated PL samples had significantly less P availability (<30%) compared to traditional PL samples.