Nutrient Dynamics and Plant Response in Soil to Organic Chicken Manure-Based Fertilizers

Abstract

Changing dietary habits towards poultry-based foods, combined with the population growth perturbed global nutrient balance. Nutrient recovery and recycling are generally considered necessary for sustainable agricultural development that also affects land use, its management, as well as air pollution quality and human health. To assess the impacts of recycled organic solid waste-based fertilizers obtained via granulation with or without mineral fertilizers for balanced nutrient content, farmland soil experiments were utilized to research long-term fertilization effects with chicken manure. Of particular interest in this study was determining the rates of nutrient removal from the soil during the intense crop growth and whether its quality and composition can be maintained with nutrients delivered via chicken manure. In control and mineral fertilizer experiments without added organic fertilizer materials after the first year, a decrease in available P2O5 and K2O in soil were observed while after 2 t/ha application OGF available P2O5 did not change while available K2O even increased. Additionally, OGF applied at 2 t/ha increased wheat straw yield by 21.3% but was not statistically significant for grain yield. Spring rapeseed yield fertilized with 2 t/ha OGF increased by 28.4%. The rapeseed plant mass increase was 23.1%. Potato tuber yield increased by 22.6% when 2 t/ha OGF was applied and by 21.2 and 26.9% when 1 and 2 t/ha OMF, respectively. This study showed that the application of chicken manure derived fertilizer materials can maintain stable nutrient content in soil and minimize mineral fertilizer influx into the environment.