Pl. Adams et al., POULTRY LITTER AND MANURE CONTRIBUTIONS TO NITRATE LEACHING THROUGH THE VADOSE ZONE, Soil Science Society of America journal, 58(4), 1994, pp. 1206-1211
Pastures are commonly fertilized with poultry litter or manure in nort
hwestern Arkansas. We hypothesized that this practice may enhance NO3-
N movement to groundwater and wanted to ascertain the likelihood of co
mmon application rates causing excessive NO3-N leaching. Our objective
was to determine the effect of application rate of poultry litter or
manure on NO3-N concentration in vadose water under fescue (Festuca ar
undinacea Schreb.) plots as a function of depth and time. In August 19
91, poultry litter was applied at 0 (control), 10 (PL10), and 20 Mg ha
-1 (PL20) and poultry manure at 17.7 Mg ha-1 (PM20). In June 1992, we
applied an additional 4.5 Mg ha-1 litter (PL5) to the PL10 plots and 3
.8 Mg ha-1 manure (PM5) to PM20 plots. Pan lysimeters at the 60-cm dep
th and suction-cup lysimeters at 60 and 120 cm sampled soil water. The
PL10, PL20, and PM20 treatments produced NO3-N concentrations as high
as 13, 54, and 41 mg L-1 at 60 cm. At 120 cm, NO3-N reached 8, 24, an
d 37 mg L-1 for the PL10, PL20, and PM20 treatments. In 1992, the PL5
and PM5 treatmentS produced NO3-N concentrations <1 mg L-1 at the 60-
and 120-cm depths. The recommended litter application rate in Arkansas
is not more than 11.2 Mg ha-1 yr-1, split in two 5.6 Mg ha-1 applicat
ions. The PL10 and PL5 rates (similar to a maximum full-year applicati
on plus a single split application) did not result in NO3-N concentrat
ions above the drinking water standard (10 mg L-1) at the 120-cm depth
.