Short-Term Chemical Transformations Following Land Application of Poultry Manure
ABSTRACT THE short-term transformations of nitrogen and carbon were studied following surface application of poultry manure at various rates to two soil types in an en-vironmentally controlled chamber. Application caused an immediate increase in soil pH that was dependent on the loading rate of manure. Nitrification was retarded because of anaerobic conditions produced by the manure. Losses of nitrogen during application and in-cubation were substantial and resulted from ammonia volatilization. Water extracts from the soil samples revealed decreases in soluble organic materials with time that were well modeled by first order kinetics and depen-dent on soil type.