effects of poultry manure and its incorporation methods with soil on soil properties and corn yield

abstract poultry manure contains considerable nutrients and its application to agricultural land may boost soil fertility. in order to study the effects of poultry manure and its incorporation method with soil on soil chemical properties, a field experiment was conducted at the ecological research center of zagroos, 30 kms from northeastern of khorramabad for two consecutive years (2004 and 2005). treatments were arranged in a split plots layout based on randomized complete block design with four replications. two incorporation methods of poultry manure incorporation with soil by furrower and disk+furrower as the main plot, and different amounts of broiler litter including zero, 10, 20 and 30 mg ha-1 as subplot were considered. the results suggested that the phosphorus, zinc and cooper concentration as well as ec of soil were much greater in the disk+furrower treatment relative to the furrower treatment. however, the amount of total nitrogen and corn dry matter for the furrower treatment was significantly more than disk+furrower treatment. averaged across years and incorporation method, maximum ec, organic matter, macronutrients and micronutrients concentration of soil and corn dry matter were obtained by applying 30 mg ha-1 poultry manure. however, no significant differences were observed between 30 mg ha-1 with 20 mg ha-1 poultry manure for the ec, organic matter and potassium. the organic matter and concentrations of total nitrogen, phosphorus and micronutrients in soil for the second year were significantly greater than those for the first year. results suggest that high rates of manure application are not sustainable and will lead to phosphorus accumulation and soil salinization. thus, that incorporation of 20 mg ha-1 poultry manure with soil by furrower might be appropriate for maintaining or increase of soil fertility and fairly corn production under conditions similar to this experiment.