Monitoring phosphorus mineralization from poultry manure using phosphatase assays and phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Phosphatase enzymes are responsible for mineralization of organic-phosphorus (P) compounds in soil where they hydrolyze the organic phosphate esters to inorganic phosphate. One way to monitor the mineralization process in soils receiving poultry manure is by assessing the activity of phosphatase in a soil amended with poultry manure relative to a soil that is not amended. In a laboratory incubation, soil phosphomonoesterase activity and soil phosphodiesterase activity were measured 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks after soil incorporation of poultry litter. Two soils, both Fine-loamy siliceous, thermic Typic Kandiudults. were used in the study. Both soils differed in their previous management. The first soil was from a conventionally tilled field that received annual poultry litter applications for 18 consecutive years. The second soil was from an adjacent recently cleared woodland that had no history of manure application. In the previously non-manured soil, soil phosphodiesterase activity following poultry litter addition increased front 4 to 66 mug p-nitrophenol g soil(-1) hour(-1) by the second week. However. in the same soil. after 8 weeks, phosphodiesterase activity resulting from poultry litter applications was not evident. There was a net increase in phosphomonoesterase activity from week 0 to 20 in the previously manured and previously non-manured soils that were amended with poultry litter. A simultaneous study was conducted to measure the relative concentration of organic P forms during the mineralization process using P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance. Subsamples from the poultry manure-amended soil were extracted with 0.25 M NaOH + 0.05 M EDTA following 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks after manure addition and incorporation. The concentration of organic P compounds decreased from the time of poultry litter incorporation until week 20 whereas orthophosphate concentration increased during this period.