Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #86262
Title: USING LANDSCAPE POSITION AND SOIL INFORMATION TO OPTIMIZE MANURE APPLICATION

Author
item Sauer, Thomas
item BRAHANA, J. - U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
item KRESSE, TIMOTHY - ARKANSAS DPC&E
item Moore, Philip
item Logsdon, Sally
item COFFEY, KENNETH - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item DANIEL, TOMMY - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item MAXWELL, CHARLES - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item WEST, C. - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item BRAUM, SEBASTIAN - UNIV OF MINN.

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/12/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Effective animal waste management provides tangible benefits to producers and the environment alike. When manure is land-applied, nutrients in the waste material are made available to support or enhance crop growth. If excessive leaching or runoff occurs, however, nutrients carried in the recharge or runoff waters represent both an economic loss to the grower and da potential economic burden to users of water resources. Thus, one goal of manure management is to optimize land-application practices to retain nutrients for crop growth while limiting off-site losses to ground and surface waters. An interdisciplinary team including soil and animal scientists, crop specialists, and hydrogeologists is being assembled to develop innovative manure handing practices. This team is working together to monitor all aspects of manure management in a watershed within the Ozark Highlands. Forestry and grazing are the dominant land uses within the watershed and poultry litter is used to fertilize the pastures. This site is considered vulnerable to water quality degradation as the soils are shallow and steep and the bedrock is fractured down to the ground water. Thus, experiments are underway to characterize soil properties and their position in the landscape to develop recommendations for manure application rates and locations. Another initiative is to determine the relative impacts of grazing and poultry litter applications on nutrient movement within the watershed. Constraints imposed by the poultry companies, and weather, limit the timing and rate of litter applications. Thus, new, innovative manure management options must address these constraints while improving nutrient utilization and reducing off-site impacts.