For more: http://www.extension.org/67672 Transportation of poultry litter out of nutrient limited watersheds such as the Illinois River basin (eastern Oklahoma) is a logical solution for minimizing phosphorus (P) losses from soils to surface waters. Transportation costs are based on mass of load and distance transported. This study investigated an alternative litter storage technique designed to promote carbon (C) degradation, thereby concentrating nutrients for the purpose of decreasing transportation costs through decreased mass. Poultry litter was stored in 0.90-Mg conical piles under semipermeable tarps and adjusted to 40% moisture content, tested with and without addition of alum (aluminum sulfate). An additional study was conducted.

1. Alternative Poultry Litter Storage Techniques for Improved Handling, Transportation,
And Use as a Soil Amendment.
Chad Penn, Jeff Vitale, Scott Fine, Josh Payne, Jason Warren, and Hailin Zhang: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Background
Experimental Design
 Fresh poultry litter from western Arkansas was transported to Eastern
Oklahoma Research Station in Haskell, OK.
 Two one ton (2000 lbs) cone shaped piles were constructed every year for
three years.
 Placed inside a covered shed and each pile covered by its own tarp.
• One pile constructed of fresh litter and other mixed with aluminum
sulfate (alum) at a rate of ten percent based on dry weight.
• Both piles were then brought up to 35 percent moisture.
• Four weeks into process both piles were mixed manually
by hand and re-covered.
• Litter samples were collected prior to and after the 8
week degradation process for analysis of:
 pH
 Electrical Conductivity (EC)
 Total Nitrogen (TN)
 Total Carbon (TC)
 Humification Index (HI = NH/HA+FA)
 Total nutrients
 Bulk Density
 Mass Loss (Calculated by the average concentration of stable
elements P and K)
Results
The use of poultry litter as a substitute for inorganic commercial fertilizer in modern
agronomic processes has gained interest since the price of inorganic fertilizers
increased dramatically. Yet, there still is a significant limit to the economic
feasibility of transporting poultry litter from phosphorous (P) rich watersheds in
eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas to producers in need.
 Degradation process resulted in a more humified product
as carbon was transformed into more recalcitrant form
based on the carbon fractionation and C NMR.
 Both treatments resulted in appreciable reductions in
mass (19% or greater) plus a darker color, less odor, and
more uniform texture.
 Although some N loss did occur due to volatilization, the
alum treated litter retained more N than normal litter.
 Litter total P and K concentrations increased with the
degradation storage process; final moisture content was not
significantly different from fresh litter
Discussion
 One potential solution is degradation of litter via compost piles to reduce the mass
of the litter while increasing nutrient concentration.
 Common problems associated with traditional composting is increase of carbon (C)
to nitrogen (N) ratio and additional input cost and labor.
 Alternative: less intensive low-input degradation process.
 Aluminum sulfate (alum) application is additional option to improve degradation
results (N retention).
 Developing a simple low input degradation system for poultry litter could greatly
increase litter value as a fertilizer source on an equal mass basis and reduce
transportation costs.
Conclusions and Implications
 The alternative low-input storage method designed to promote degradation caused a reduction in litter mass which resulted in
a more nutrient dense end product allowing for more economical transport of degraded litter compared to fresh litter:
 Amounts to roughly 17 million $ increase in economic benefit over fresh litter transportation in OK after 25 years.
 Based on the N, P, and K concentrations, degraded litter is worth on average 11% more than fresh litter per unit mass.
 Alum increased the N retention of the low-input degradation system, but was not economically feasible.
 The use of the alternative litter storage technique can improve the efficiency of transport for these valuable nutrients out of
Oklahoma’s susceptible nutrient dense watersheds and into the nutrient deficient croplands across Oklahoma.
.
Oklahoma broiler litter
production (upper) and
agricultural phosphorus
demand (lower)
Objectives: (i) Quantify the ability of a low input degradation process to reduce litter mass and
increase nutrient concentration; (ii) compare alum amended poultry to non-amended degraded litter.
Litter degradation piles after 8 weeks
Visual comparison of degraded and fresh
poultry litter
Figure 2: Humification Index (HI = non humic / humic acid +
fulvic acid) of Fresh and Degraded Normal Litter. Decrease in
HI indicates a more humified product.
Table 1: Poultry litter characteristics (dry basis) before and
after degradation after the alternative litter storage method.
Figure 1: Economic benefit of transportation of degraded
litter relative to fresh litter.
Fresh Litter
Degraded Normal
Litter Production
(tons litter per county)
0 - 50
51 - 100
101 - 500
501 - 1,000
1,001 - 50,000
Phosphorus Demand
(tons per county)
0-1,000
1,001 - 5,000
5,001-10,000
10,001-25,000
25,001-50,000
<all other values>
Litter Treatment
Mass
Reduction* pH TC TN Total K Total P
% % % mg kg-1
Pre-degraded - 8.6 43.2 4.7 33354 17518
Normal degraded 19.6 8.8 36.5 4.3 40826 22208
Alum degraded 23 8 34.3 4.6 40570 20295
LSD‡‡ 2.7 0.37 7.0 0.31 4295 1769