Can Soil Nutrient Accumulations be Removed Through Use of Inorganic Fertilizers and Corn Crop Production?.

Broiler litter is often disposed of on lands at rates in excess field crop needs.  This often results in an accumulation of some nutrients, such as P or micronutrients.  A remediation study was used to determine if inorganic fertilizer use after broiler litter application would reduce excess soil nutrients by growing corn.  There were four treatments using four different rates of inorganic fertilizer addition.  Remediation treatments where previous broiler litter was applied at the N rate (R-PLN), P rate (R-PLP) P rate with inorganic N (R-PLP+N), and inorganic fertilizer (INORG). Initial results indicate that by using inorganic fertilizer application as a remediation, soils can be reduced in P, Cu and Zn levels.   Indications are that removal of these nutrients may require in excess of five years, but will allow for excellent crop production during the remediation process.