Understanding the environmental impact of phosphorus in acidic soils receiving repeated poultry litter applications

Abstract With rising global demand of poultry products, a surge in poultry production would warrant safe disposal of waste byproducts such as poultry litter (PL). A dilemma exists over environmental phosphorus (P) loss risk and agronomic utilization of PL in highly weathered soils with high P fixation capacity. The objective of this study was to determine P forms and their distribution in highly weathered Piedmont soils located in high density poultry operation (HDPO) areas and evaluate environmental P loss risk using soil P storage capacity (SPSC) approach. Soil samples from agricultural fields with 10 ± 2 years PL application history were collected from surface (0-15cm) and subsurface (15-30cm) depths. Approximately 64 ± 11% of total P was in non-reactive P (NRP) form, 35 ± 19% in moderately reactive P (MRP) forms, and