Research Article
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Effect of Poultry Litter Amendments on Ammonia Emissions and Soluble Phosphorus
Abstract
Background and Objective: Poultry litter amendments are widely used to mitigate ammonia (NH3) volatilization and some amendments, such as aluminum sulfate (alum), also reduce litter-soluble phosphorus (P), thereby potentially decreasing P runoff and leaching. However, the increasing cost of alum has prompted interest in alternative amendments that can simultaneously reduce NH3 emissions and P solubility. This study evaluated the effects of several poultry litter amendments, including Alum Mud Litter Amendment (AMLA), a byproduct of alum production and TPX, a calcium silicate nanoparticle with high P adsorption capacity, on NH3 emissions and soluble P concentrations in poultry litter.
Methodology: A pen trial was conducted to evaluate six treatments: (1) Untreated poultry litter (control), (2) Alum-treated litter, (3) Sodium bisulfate (SBS)-treated litter, (4) AMLA-treated litter, (5) Alum plus TPX and (6) SBS plus TPX. Cumulative NH3 fluxes, litter-soluble P concentrations and other relevant litter and bird health parameters were assessed.
Results: Compared with the untreated control, cumulative NH3 fluxes were reduced by 70, 65, 63, 63 and 56% in the alum, SBS, AMLA, SBS plus TPX and alum plus TPX treatments, respectively. At the end of the trial, alum plus TPX, alum and AMLA reduced litter-soluble P concentrations by 63, 56 and 52%, respectively, relative to the control. In contrast, SBS and SBS plus TPX increased litter-soluble P concentrations by 18% and 6%, respectively, although substantially higher concentrations were observed earlier in the grow-out period. The addition of TPX had no significant effect on cumulative NH3 emissions or litter-soluble P concentrations. Furthermore, SBS increased litter moisture and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) emissions and was associated with poorer footpad and hock scores.
Conclusion: AMLA performed comparably to alum in reducing both NH3 emissions and litter-soluble P concentrations, indicating its potential as an alternative poultry litter amendment. Although SBS effectively reduced NH3 emissions, its effects on litter-soluble P, increased litter moisture and N2O emissions and poorer footpad and hock scores highlight potential environmental and bird welfare concerns. The addition of TPX provided no apparent additional benefit in reducing cumulative NH3 emissions or litter soluble P under the conditions evaluated.
Keywords:
Alum, AMLA, ammonia, nanoparticle, phosphorus, sodium bisulfate, TPXArticle Metrics
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jerry W. Martin, Philip A. Moore, Jr., Kelsey R. Anderson, Deigo Della Lunga, Joshua M. Lyte
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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Martin, J. W., Moore, Jr., P. A., Anderson, K. R., Lunga, D. D., & Lyte, J. M. (2026). Effect of Poultry Litter Amendments on Ammonia Emissions and Soluble Phosphorus. International Journal of Poultry Science, 25, 264–274. https://doi.org/10.66920/ijps.2026.264.274
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