Tuesday, November 14, 2006
217-24
Sorghum and Corn Genotypes Responses for Nutrient Uptake from Poultry Manure Applications.
Iqbal Javaid, Dept of Agriculture., Univ.of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853, Robert Dadson, Univ of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853-1299, Fawzy M. Hashem, Univ of Maryland ,Eastern Shore, Dept of Agriculture,, Trigg Hall, Princess Anne, MA 21853, and Jagmohan Joshi, Univ of Maryland , Eastern Shore, 1310 Foggy Bottom Dr, Salisbury, MD 21804.
Continued poultry litter application to cropland in many poultry producing areas including the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) peninsula region has raised concerns for enrichment of NO3-N in ground water and P in surface water. Recently, an increasing number of surface waters in the Delmarva region have experienced harmful algal blooms which contributed to fish kills, the unpalatability of drinking water, and expected formation of carcinogens during chlorination, and links to neurological impairments in humans. Therefore, studies were conducted to exploit the potential of sorghum and corn genotypes for nutrient removal from the soils which had received the poultry manure applications. Eight genotypes of both crops were included in the studies. Field trials were conducted in two crop growing seasons and were arranged in randomized complete block designs with four replications. The crops were harvested at early grain formation stages and after drying the biological yields were recorded. The plant samples were analyzed after grinding for nutrient analysis. The results showed that sorghum Sudan and sorghum grass extracted the maximum amounts of P and total nitrogen (percentage) compared with other genotypes of corn and sorghum. The same trend was found in the green house experiments.