Don’t Forget the Secondary or Micro-nutrients from Applied Manure or Compost

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Don’t Forget the Secondary or Micro-nutrients from Applied Manure or Compost

Author:	Donna Speranzini - Horticulture Nutrient Management Specialist/OMAFRA
Creation Date:	29 May 2007
Last Reviewed:	29 May 2007

We use manure and compost to add organic matter to our soils. Organic matter in the soil improves water infiltration, water holding capacity, soil drainage, nutrient cycling and resilience to compaction. All very good things in their own right! We also use manure to add macro-nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

But what is often forgotten is the amount of micro-nutrients that a manure or compost application contributes to your soil. Both manure and compost contain micronutrients. This worksheet will help you calculate the amount of micronutrients supplied by your manure or compost application. Any lab analysis of manure will give you the parts per million or percentages of micronutrient content. There are several general formula to easily convert this lab value to pounds of nutrient applied to each acre of land. Below are two examples representing a typical "generic" solid cattle manure and a well composted (i.e..properly turned and heated) solid poultry manure.

General Formula

ppm/10,000 = %
% x 20 = lbs/ton
lbs/ton x application rate tons/ac = lbs/ac

Example #1 Cattle Manure

Micronutrient	Lab analysis ppm/10000 = %	% x 20 = lbs/ton	Micronutrients applied in 50 ton/ac	Micronutrients applied in 10 ton/ac
Boron	4ppm/10000 = .0004%	.008	0.4 lbs/ac	0.08 lbs/ac
Calcium	4.93%	98.6	4930 lbs/ac	986 lbs/ac
Copper	27ppm/10000 = .0027%	.054	2.7 lbs/ac	0.54 lbs/ac
Iron	2115.6ppm/10000 = .21%	4.23	211 lbs/ac	42 lbs/ac
Magnesium	0.77%	15.4	770 lbs/ac	154 lbs/ac
Manganese	139.7ppm/10000 = .014%	.279	13.9 lbs/ac	2.8 lbs/ac
Zinc	47ppm/10000 = .0047%	.094	4.7 lbs/ac	0.9 lbs/ac

Example #2 Poultry Compost

Micronutrient	Lab analysis ppm/10000 = %	% x 20 = lbs/ton	Micronutrients applied in 5 ton/ac
Boron	9ppm/10000 = .0009%	.018	0.09 lbs/ac
Calcium	7.72%	154	770 lbs/ac
Copper	100ppm/10000 = .01%	.2	1.0 lbs/ac
Iron	1526.5ppm/10000 = .15%	3.0	15 lbs/ac
Magnesium	2.23%	45	223 lbs/ac
Manganese	415.5ppm/10000 = .04%	.8	4.0 lbs/ac
Zinc	320ppm/10000 = .0320%	.6	3.0 lbs/ac

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