Evaluation of Rates of Poultry Litter Application On Phosphatase Enzyme Activity and Microbial Diversity.

Poultry litter (PL) is an abundant by-product of the poultry industry in the south-eastern states of the U.S. Used as a valuable source of essential plant nutrients, it can help to improve soil quality and function. Poultry litter also contains a considerable amount of organic matter, which has a known positive effect on soil structure, and microbial activity. In this study, a two factor experiment was conducted to look at the effects of different application rates of PL (0, 2, 4 tons litter/acre) on soil microbial communities, enzyme activities under cropped and un-cropped systems.  Enzyme activities increased as the rate of poultry litter increased for the cropped plots. Enzyme activity decreased after the application of 2 ton/acre of poultry litter in the un-cropped plots.