Phosphorus runoff from agricultural land contributes to accelerated eutroph
ication of surface waters. In areas with intensive animal farming, P loss f
rom manured fields may be elevated due to high concentrations of soluble P
in manure. We characterized P in dairy and poultry manure for the relative
dissolution and fraction distribution using deionized water (H2O), 0.5 M Na
HCO3, 0.1 M NaOH, 1.0 M HCl, and 5% trichloroacetic acid (TCA). Two extract
ion procedures were tested: (i) independent, with dried, ground samples bei
ng extracted repeatedly and P measured for each extractant; and (ii) sequen
tial, with each sample being repeatedly extracted by H2O, NaHCO3, NaOH, and
HCl, in that order. For the independent procedure, H2O extracted 53 to 64%
, NaHCO3 64 to 72%, NaOH 33 to 54%, HCl 90 to 97%, and TCA 84 to 96% of the
total P in manure. Sequentially, H2O, NaHCO3, NaOH, and HCl extracted 70,
14, 6, and 5% of the total P in the dairy, and 49, 19, 5, and 25% of the to
tal P in the poultry sample, respectively. Manure P release was not greatly
affected by shaking time but decreased rapidly with increasing number of r
epeated extractions. A large portion of P in manure being extractable by H2
O or NaHCO3 suggests weak binding energy of P and hence a high susceptibili
ty for loss to waters when conditions favor runoff. A l-h shaking of manure
with H2O may provide a quick measure of the relative magnitude of P that i
s most susceptible. Further investigation relating manure P fractions with
P in runoff would help identify management alternatives for reduced P losse
s.