Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions from pelletized and nonpelletized poultry litter incorporated into soil

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While several studies have shown that the addition of animal manures to soil can increase N2O and CO2 emissions, limited information is available on the effect that manure physical characteristics can have on these emissions. This study compared N2O and CO2 emissions from poultry litter incorporated as pellets (5.5 mm OD, 7 mm long) or fine particles (<0.83 mm) into Cecil soil samples. The soil-litter mixture was packed in acrylic plastic cylinders and adjusted to 55 or 90 % water-filled porosity (WFP). The cylinders were placed inside jars that were sealed and placed in an incubator at 25°C for 35 d, with periodic air samplings conducted for N2O and CO2 analyses. At 55% WFP, cumulative emission of CO2 was similar for both litter types, but cumulative emission of N2O was slightly higher for pelletized (6.8 % of applied N) than for fine-particle litter (5.5 %). In contrast, at 90 % WFP, cumulative emission of N2O was larger for fine-particle litter (3.4 % of applied N) than for pelletized litter (1.5 %). These results indicate that the effect of poultry litter physical characteristics on N2O emissions from incorporated applications can be expected to vary depending on the soil water regime.