DISTRIBUTION AND EVALUATING PHOSPHORUS, POTASSIUM, CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM IN THE FRESH AND COMPOSTED POULTRY LITTER

M. Irshad, Z. Nisar, M. A. Sabir, A. Alam, Faridullah

Abstract: Organic farming is a system that promotes the use of organic fertilizers. Organic matter is an essential component of healthy soils, and all sound farming practices integrate and allocate available organic materials to maintain or improve soil fertility. An experiment was conducted to assess the influence of composted poultry litter (CPL) and fresh poultry litter (FPL) on the extractability of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg). Extractability of these nutrients was found highly dependent upon the type of waste use. The examined nutrients were found in the order of P>Ca>K>Mg from
poultry waste after 100 days of composting process as well as fresh manure. The concentrations of these nutrients were found apparently higher in composted material as compared to fresh one. The mean level for the release of phosphorus obtained in water-soluble was greater in compost amended soil as compared to fresh amendment with 0.2115 mg kg-1. The phosphorus with double acid was greater in compost where as lowest was found in fresh manure with 0.2 g kg-1. The efficiency of manure used is highly dependent upon source of manure used. The applications of CPL to fields could reduce both synthetic fertilizer inputs and improve soil qualities. Therefore, this investigation was aimed to compare the extractability and bioavailability of plant nutrients to maize crop following composted poultry litter application.

Keywords: biodiversity; composting; phosphorus; poultry litter

Date published: 2017-10-16