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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Waste Management

Alum Amendment Effects on Phosphorus Release and Distribution in Poultry Litter–Amended Sandy Soils

^a Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, 152 Townsend Hall, Newark, DE 19716
^b U.S. Geological Survey, Mail Stop 465, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

^* Corresponding author (kestaats{at}udel.edu).

Received for publication January 14, 2004. Increased poultry production has contributed to excess nutrient problems in Atlantic Coastal Plain soils due to land application of poultry litter (PL). Aluminum sulfate [alum, Al₂(SO₄)₃·14H₂O] amendment of PL effectively reduces soluble phosphorus (P) in the PL; however, the effects of these litters when added to acidic, sandy soils are not well understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of alum-amended poultry litter in reducing P release from three Delaware Coastal Plain soils: Evesboro loamy sand (Ev; excessively drained, mesic, coated Typic Quartzipsamments), Rumford loamy sand (Ru; well drained, coarse-loamy, siliceous, subactive, thermic Typic Hapludults), and Pocomoke sandy loam (Pm; very poorly drained, coarse-loamy, siliceous, active, thermic Typic Umbraquults). Long-term (25 d) and short-term (24 h) desorption studies were conducted, in addition to chemical extractions and kinetic modeling, to observe the changes that alum-amended versus unamended PL caused in the soils. The Ev, Ru, and Pm soils were incubated with 9 Mg ha^–1 of alum-amended or unamended PL. Long-term desorption (25 d) of the incubated material resulted in approximately 13.5% (Ev), 12.7% (Ru), and 13.3% (Pm) reductions in cumulative P desorbed when comparing soil treated with unamended and alum-amended PL. In addition, the P release from the soil treated with alum-amended litter was not significantly different from the control (soil alone). Short-term desorption (24 h) showed 7.3% (Ev), 15.4% (Ru), and 20% (Pm) reductions. The overall implication from this study is that the use of alum as a PL amendment is useful in coarse-textured soils of the Coastal Plain. With increased application of alum-amended PL, more significant decreases may be possible with little or no effect on soil quality.

Abbreviations: al-lit, alum-amended poultry litter • Ev, Evesboro loamy sand • lit, control poultry litter • PL, poultry litter • Pm, Pocomoke sandy loam • Ru, Rumford loamy sand

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