Environmental implications of inositol phosphates in animal manures.

Animal production in the USA is valued at more than $100 billion and has consolidated significantly during the last 20 years, with a larger number of animals being produced on an increasingly smaller land base (Kellogg et al., 2000). Manure generated from animal production is currently estimated to exceed 335 million t of dry matter per year in the USA, while global manure production is estimated at —13 billion t of dry matter per year (Mullins et al., 2005). Manures contain significant amounts of phosphorus, with values between 6.7 and 29.1 g P/kg on a dry weight basis reported for several species of animals (Barnett, 1994). This phosphorus includes inorganic and organic forms, with the latter constituting between 10°/a and 80% of the total (Peperzak et al., 1959; Gerritse and Zugec, 1977). Inositol phosphates are one of the primary organic phosphorus species found in manures, with myo-Inositol hexakisphosphate typically being the most abundant (Peperzak el al., 1959; Barnett, 1994; Turner and Leytem, 2004).