Managing litter as a fertilizer Unlike commercial fertilizers, poultry litter is a highly variable substance. Even within a given animal specie, waste can vary up to 50 percent. Other management styles peculiar to poultry operations, such as building cleaning on a certain schedule, dictate a different management technique than commercial fertilizer that can just be ordered and spread. Table 1 shows the available ammonia nitrogen as a function of time until incorporated into the soil. Litter ammonia nitrogen loss by days until incorporated into the soil.
Unavailable portion is lost to the atmosphere.
Table 3 gives the percent of various nutrients available in the growing season after application. Litter organic nitrogen available by year.