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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Orono, Maine » New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #237675

Title: Amino Compounds in Poultry Litter, Litter-Amended Soil and Plants

Author
item He, Zhongqi
item SENWO, ZACHARY - Alabama A & M University
item TAZISONG, IRENUS - Alabama A & M University
item MARTENS, DEAN - USDA,ARS (DECEASED)

Submitted to: Plant Nutrition Colloquium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/17/2009
Publication Date: 8/26/2009
Citation: He, Z., Senwo, Z.N., Tazisong, I.A., Martens, D.A. 2009. Amino Compounds in Poultry Litter, Litter-Amended Soil and Plants. Plant Nutrition Colloquium Proceedings. On-line publication.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Amino acids and amino sugars generally constitute the bulk of N in soil, so understanding their cycling is critical for efficient N use in crop production. Although poultry litter (PL) is relatively rich in N, little is known about the effects of PL application on turnover and availability of amino compounds (AC) in soil. We quantified 19 amino acids and two amino sugars in 23 poultry litters, five pasture soils with different PL application histories, and the grass grown on these pastures. Concentration of AC-N averaged 37.0 mg g-1 dry matter(DM) for the 23 PL samples, which represented approximately 76% of their total N. Pasture soils had received annual PL applications for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years at rates of 0, 2.27, 2.27, 3.63, and 1.36 Mg ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Highest levels of AC-N were observed in soils receiving 10- and 15-yr PL, which implied that both freshly applied and residual PL contributed to soil AC-N. However, the proportion of total soil N comprised of AC-N decreased with PL application, with AC-N accounting for 97% of total N in the control pasture soil, but only 40% in soils receiving PL for 20 years. Plants harvested from the control pasture field contained the least abundant AC-N (10.5 mg g-1 DM). Plant leaves harvested from the pasture field with 5-year PL application contained the greatest AC-N (23.7 mg g-1 DM). It is clear that additional research is needed for understanding the roles and transformations of amino compounds in soil N dynamics and plant N uptake in PL amended soils.