Abstract
Poultry litter can be difficult to uniformly apply because of its natural variability in moisture content, particle size, and density. It is well known that nutrient concentrations of litter tend to increase with decreasing particle size, posing a question of whether litter should be applied based on nutrient distribution over mass, which is the traditional means for spreader calibration and uniformity assessment. Therefore, a study was conducted to evaluate whether macronutrient (N, P2O5, and K2O) distribution patterns contrast with the traditional mass distribution while using the nutrient data to assess application uniformity between a closed-loop system (CLS) and an open-loop system (OLS) for controlling spinner-disc speed. Three application rates (2242, 4483, and 6725 kg ha-1) were selected for applying broiler litter. A two-dimensional collection pan matrix with four rows was used to assess pattern uniformity. Results indicated that the nutrient patterns were highly correlated (R > 0.98) with their respective mass patterns, indicating that even with the existence of particle size variability across the spread width, the distribution of mass reflected the nutrient distribution. The CLS provided more uniform nutrient patterns, with coefficients of variation (CVs) ranging from 22% to 34% compared to the 26% to 39% generated by the OLS. Overall, practical differences were found between the two control systems (p = 0.0657) with significant differences occurring at the 2242 kg ha-1 (p = 0.0303) and 6725 kg ha-1 (p = 0.0379) rates. No statistical difference (p = 0.8207) was measured at the 4483 kg ha-1 rate, which was the calibration rate for both systems. Therefore, this research concluded that the distribution of mass can be used to assess nutrient distribution of poultry litter spreaders and that the CLS for spinner speed control outperformed the traditional OLS.
Published Version
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