Farmers using poultry litter need to avoid excess phosphorus on land
MISSOURI - If farmers want to continue using poultry litter as fertilizer on their fields, they will need to avoid excess phosphorus going on the land.That is the advice of Dan Philbrick, Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationist in Barry County, who talked at a meeting Feb. 11 in Neosho.
Missouri has no regulations covering phosphorus applications. Current application regulations are based on nitrogen.
Phosphorus is needed for plant growth and is not toxic to plants, livestock or humans, he said.
University of Missouri soil-test recommendations are made to meet phosphorus needs for the coming crop and for amounts to build phosphorus in soils where the nutrient is needed.
It normally takes 10 pounds of phosphorus per acre to increase the level in the soil by a pound, he said.
The Joplin Globe
28 February 2005
1 minute read
