University of Tennessee studies show applying chicken litter can help growers increase the carbon levels in their soils, according to Dr. Shawn Hawkins, associate professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Shawn Hawkins

Hawkins, speaking at this summer’s Milan No-Till Field Day at UT’s Milan Research and Education Center, said research also indicates poultry litter can build the levels of plant-available copper and such micronutrients as magnesium, sulfur and zinc in soils.

Increased supplies of litter, which are expected to come from the expansion and construction of poultry processing plants in west Tennessee, may also help raise soil pH, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture said. To read more about the field day, visit http://milan.tennessee.edu/MNTFD/.