Concurrent N mineralization and immobilization in soils receiving poultry litter containing woodchip bedding may reduce synchrony between the short-term N supply and crop N demand. Therefore, we used soil chemical tests, ion exchange membranes, and wheat N uptake to assess N dynamics in a poultry-litter-amended soil. Air-dried soil was thoroughly mixed with five poultry litter rates (50, 100, 150, 200, or 250 mg total N kg−1) and preincubated for 7 d in a controlled environment chamber. After preincubating, soil was placed in 10-cm-diameter pots and planted with spring wheat (Triticum aestivum ‘Wilkin’), or left unplanted and monitored with anion and cation exchange membranes for 45 d. Soil nitrate (NO3-N) concentration increased with poultry litter application rate at the end of the preincubation period, but subsequent wheat N uptake did not, suggesting that little net N mineralization occurred during the 45 d of wheat growth. The membrane data indicated a shift from net N immobilization during the early part of the wheat growth period to net mineralization during the latter portion of the wheat growth period. We conclude that alternating N mineralization and immobilization in soils receiving poultry litter containing woodchip bedding limited the short-term N supply to wheat.
How to translate text using browser tools
29 June 2016
Short-term nitrogen dynamics in soil amended with poultry litter containing woodchip bedding
Ben W. Thomas,
Joann K. Whalen,
Mehdi Sharifi
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
It is not available for individual sale.
This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
It is not available for individual sale.
ion exchange membranes
Nitrogen immobilization
Nitrogen mineralization
poultry-litter-amended soils
water-extractable organic N