Very little is known about the microbial composition of animal bedding wastes, including poultry litter, and what is known has been deduced from standard culture methods, by which some fastidious organisms that exist in the environment may not be detected. We evaluated the bacterial composition of poultry litter by using a combination of culture and molecular detection. Total aerobic bacteria i...

Poultry litter is composted to reduce odor and pathogens and to improve its quality as a soil amendment. Organic material, e.g., sawdust, is added to increase the C:N ratio to achieve optimum degradation of organic C and retention of N through microbial biomass formation. However, the relative biodegradabilities of the organic material in poultry litter and the amendment are usually not known. ...

Enterococcus spp. from two poultry farms and proximate surface and ground water sites in an area of intensive poultry production were tested for resistance to 16 clinical antibiotics. Resistance patterns were compared to assess trends and possible correlations for specific antimicrobials and levels of resistance. Enterococci were detected at all 12 surface water sites and three of 28 ground wat...

Alternative N fertilizers that produce low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soil are needed to reduce the impacts of agricultural practices on global warming potential (GWP). We quantified and compared growing season fluxes of NO, CH, and CO resulting from applications of different N fertilizer sources, urea (U), urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN), ammonium nitrate (NHNO), poultry litter, and comme...

The amendment of soil with biochar has been demonstrated to have an effect not only on the soil physicochemical properties, but also on soil microbial community composition and activity. Previous reports have demonstrated significant impacts on soil microbial community structure. These impacts are modulated not only by the biochar composition, but also on the soil’s physicochemical characterist...

This study was carried out to evaluate the influence of temperature and poultry litter on germination vegetative growth virulence and conidial production of Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) isolates on larvae and adults of the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus) (Panzer). The vegetative growth and conidial production were evaluated on culture media. Vi...

Due to the stringent and explicit European environmental legislation about land spreading of nitrates, the direct land application of the poultry litter is not anymore the most appropriate disposal technique. We investigated the combustion of pure common poultry derived wastes and mixtures of these with olive pomace in a domestic burner optimized for wood pellet combustion. Typical waste and pr...

Use of enhanced-efficiency N fertilizers (EENFs) in row crop agriculture has not been well studied despite increasing interest in these N sources to increase crop yield while decreasing N loss. A field study was conducted in Central Alabama from 2009 to 2011 to compare EENFs to standard N sources in a high-residue conservation cotton production system. Nitrogen fertilizers evaluated were: urea;...

The demand for energy has been promptly increasing due to rapid growing world population and increased growth of industries. In the pursuit of renewable energy production, the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes was a proved technology that is shaping up to be the one of the reliable source of alternate energy. Even though the anaerobic digestion is an effective method of renewable energy pro...

Phosphorus (P) in runoff from pastures amended with poultry litter may be a significant contributor to eutrophication of lakes and streams in Georgia and other areas in the southeastern United States. The objectives of this research were to determine the effects of litter application rate and initial runoff timing on the long-term loss of P in runoff from surface-applied poultry litter and to d...