Optimising the management of poultry litter in Australian cotton production

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of poultry litter (PL), urea-N and the integrated use of both in changing nutrient uptake, yield and lint quality of cotton grown in southern NSW, Australia.

Poultry litter was applied at 4, 8 and 16 t/ha, integrated with urea-N to provide matched available N. In season N can be fully met using PL either alone or in combination with urea-N. PL amended treatments significantly increased 2 nd season lint yield above mineral fertilizer. Nutrient uptake and lint quality were not affected by fertilizer-N source.