The impact of alum addition on organic P transformations in poultry litter and litter-amended soil

J Environ Qual. 2008 Feb 11;37(2):469-76. doi: 10.2134/jeq2007.0239. Print 2008 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Poultry litter treatment with alum (Al(2)(SO(4))(3) . 18H(2)O) lowers litter phosphorus (P) solubility and therefore can lower litter P release to runoff after land application. Lower P solubility in litter is generally attributed to aluminum-phosphate complex formation. However, recent studies suggest that alum additions to poultry litter may influence organic P mineralization. Therefore, alum-treated and untreated litters were incubated for 93 d to assess organic P transformations during simulated storage. A 62-d soil incubation was also conducted to determine the fate of incorporated litter organic P, which included alum-treated litter, untreated litter, KH(2)PO(4) applied at 60 mg P kg(-1) of soil, and an unamended control. Liquid-state (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance indicated that phytic acid was the only organic P compound present, accounting for 50 and 45% of the total P in untreated and alum-treated litters, respectively, before incubation and declined to 9 and 37% after 93 d of storage-simulating incubation. Sequential fractionation of litters showed that alum addition to litter transformed 30% of the organic P from the 1.0 mol L(-1) HCl to the 0.1 mol L(-1) NaOH extractable fraction and that both organic P fractions were more persistent in alum-treated litter compared with untreated litter. The soil incubation revealed that 0.1 mol L(-1) NaOH-extractable organic P was more recalcitrant after mixing than was the 1.0 mol L(-1) HCl-extractable organic P. Thus, adding alum to litter inhibits organic P mineralization during storage and promotes the formation of alkaline extractable organic P that sustains lower P solubility in the soil environment.

MeSH terms

  • Alum Compounds / chemistry*
  • Animals
  • Chemical Fractionation
  • Hydrochloric Acid / chemistry
  • Hydrolysis
  • Manure*
  • Phosphates / chemistry*
  • Phosphorus / chemistry*
  • Phytic Acid / chemistry*
  • Poultry
  • Sodium Bicarbonate / chemistry
  • Sodium Hydroxide / chemistry
  • Soil

Substances

  • Alum Compounds
  • Manure
  • Phosphates
  • Soil
  • Phosphorus
  • aluminum sulfate
  • Sodium Hydroxide
  • Phytic Acid
  • Sodium Bicarbonate
  • Hydrochloric Acid