Soil Property Changes As Effected By 3 Soil Amendments

Abstract

Manure applications on agricultural production fields have been common practice throughout Kentucky and the United States for many years. Understanding how the type of manure applied and application style alter the soil properties can help growers manage their soil better. The research objective was to study manure applications and the changes of soil properties as a result of the different types of applications. The soil properties that were studied in this research are soil water holding capacity, soil pH, soil organic carbon, and macroporosity. Four replications were taken in each field with two depths taken at each site. During the study, undisturbed soil cores and disturbed soil samples were taken from 0 to 7.5 and 7.5 to 15 centimeters deep throughout the fields. This study was conducted on fields located in Henry County, Tennessee and Calloway County, Kentucky in silt loam soil types. This study was conducted on four fields, one with swine manure injected, swine manure applied with a splash pan, poultry litter spread, and traditional dry fertilizer applied. The data was analyzed, and it was determined that the field with splashpan applied manure had lower soil organic carbon levels at 2.279% with the next lowest being 2.369%. It was also determined that the field with traditional fertilizer applied had the highest SOC level in the top 7.5 cm of soil at 3.930%, but was on the lower end of SOC levels in the 7.5 to 15 cm depth at 2.505%