Corn Yield and Nutrient Uptake Response to Subsurface-Lateral Bands Application of Poultry Litter.

Poultry litter is nutrient rich and traditionally land-applied by broadcast on the soil surface which can lead to potential environmental hazards. This application method leaves PL vulnerable to transport from the field to nearby water bodies and contributes significant amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere.To determine if placement of poultry litter in one, two, or three lateral subsurface bands between corn rows will impact corn performance and reduces nutrient losses, a field plot study was conducted in Bowling Green, KY USA (36^o 39’ N; 86^o 26’W) on a Crider silt loam soil. The experiment's design was a randomized complete block with 6 treatments as follow: Untreated control, 28% N fertilizer (UAN) surface band, Poultry litter surface broadcast, Poultry litter sub-surface banding – 1 band per inter-corn row area, Poultry litter sub-surface banding – 2 bands per inter-corn row area, Poultry Litter sub-surface banding – 3 bands per inter-corn row area, and 180 kg N ha-1 target N rate (assume 100% N availability) as poultry litter. Corn grain yield and N trts had significantly greater corn grain yield than control. Poultry litter with one sub-surface band and poultry litter with two sub-surface bands had significantly greater corn grain yield compared to poultry litter broadcast and similar to fertilizer treatment.