Waste Management xxx (2015) xxxxxx

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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Towards a method for optimized extraction of soluble nutrients from

fresh and composted chicken manures
Abdalhakim M. Ksheem a,, John McL. Bennett a, Diogenes L. Antille a, Steven R. Raine b
a
b

Soil and Water Dept, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tripoli, P.O. Box 1328, Tripoli, Libya
University of Southern Queensland, Institute for Agriculture and the Environment, 4350 Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 4 August 2014
Accepted 9 February 2015
Available online xxxx
Keywords:
Fresh chicken manure
Leaching efciency
Liquid fertiliser
Mature compost
Soluble nutrients extraction

a b s t r a c t
A preliminary method for extraction of soluble nutrients from organic materials is presented that investigates important characteristics of design for efcient extraction. The study was conducted in Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC) columns (length: 50 and 100 mm, diameter: 87.5 mm) lled with fresh and composted
chicken manures, packed to densities in the range of 0.20.6 g cm3. The columns were leached with distilled water. A total of 5 cm3 of water per cm3 of material was applied. Leachate collection was sequentially partitioned to enable determination of soluble nutrients throughout time, including: total dissolved
nitrogen (TDN), water soluble phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Waste material state, density of packing
and lengths of column all signicantly (P < 0.05) affected the concentration of ions in the leachate. In general, longer contact time between the percolating water and the material resulted in higher (P < 0.05)
concentration of ions in the leachate. Cumulative TDN and water soluble-P were greater (P < 0.05) in fresh
manure leachates, compared with compost leachates. Although, compost leachates provided relatively
greater (P < 0.05) concentration of K. Salinity ionic concentration of leachates, determined as Na and
Cl, was consistently greater from fresh manure as compared to that from mature compost. Fresh manure
and mature compost were determined to provide different responses to nutrient leaching because of differences in physico-chemical characteristics. Saturated hydraulic conductivity in fresh manure columns
reduced rapidly with application of water to the columns. The mechanisms involved in this process are
discussed with the implication for nutrient extraction and use of leachate from chicken manure waste
sources.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The global production of chicken manure is estimated to be 457
million tonnes per year (Sekar et al., 2010). This amount is set to
increase due to continuous growth of the poultry industry, which
is driven by increased demand for cholesterol-free food and chicken-derived products (Magdelaine et al., 2008). Chicken manure
contains all identied essential plant nutrients and its fertilizer
value is well documented (Kelleher et al., 2002). Soil application
of organic amendments, such as chicken manures, is often regarded as the best practicable environmental option for waste disposal
(Chambers et al., 2003) and supports the general principles of the
waste management hierarchy (DEFRA, 2010).
The expected growth of the global population, and the associated increase in demand for food and energy, will increase the
reliance on fertilizer inputs (Dawson and Hilton, 2011). The
Corresponding author. Tel.: +218 92 500 2889.
E-mail address: ksheem@gmail.com (A.M. Ksheem).

recycling of organic materials would need to increase to: (a) reduce

the reliance on mineral fertilizers, which are going up in price and
have, therefore, adverse effects on crop prot margins, (b) ensure
that nite resources, such as rock phosphate, are efciently used
and reused, and (c) deliver some of the environmental benets
associated with recycling (Dawson and Hilton, 2011; Vitousek
et al., 2010; Weikard and Seyhan, 2009). The use of chicken manure as a soil amendment provides an effective means to enhance
soil fertility and soil physical conditions (Antonious et al., 2014;
Warman, 1986) provided best management practices are followed.
In this respect, studies have shown that excessive application of
chicken manures to agricultural land may lead to environmental
issues such as increased levels of nitratenitrogen in groundwater
(Bitzer and Sims, 1988), pollution of surface waters associated with
phosphorus in runoff (Kingery et al., 1994; Moore et al., 1995),
increased pathogen incidence (Litterick et al., 2004), unwanted
effects on crops due to phytotoxic substances (Kelleher et al.,
2002), and soil enrichment of heavy metals which may be transferred into the food chain (Tabatabaei et al., 2012). However, it is

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expected that advances in application techniques including the

development of specialist equipment will improve uniformity of
distribution during eld spreading of organic materials, which will
reduce the risk of nutrient losses to the environment and increase
nutrient use efciency by crops (Antille et al., 2015; Lagu et al.,
2005; Landry et al., 2011). The relatively high moisture content
of chicken manures (range: 5070%, w w1) increases the cost of
handling and spreading of these materials (Wilkinson, 1979).
Larney et al. (2006) emphasize that composting enables for a signicant reduction in mass and volume, and water content of the
material, which reduces transportation costs, pathogen load, and
enhances the protection of surface and groundwater from nutrient
contamination, due to higher degree of organic matter stabilization
compared with fresh manures.
Application of chicken manure in arable cropping systems can
be potentially replaced by controlled application of manure nutrients in liquid form. There are a number of methods used to produce or prepare liquid organic fertilizer. These methods range in
scale from those suitable on a domestic level to those suitable on
a commercial level. The main methods are anaerobic systems,
where the manure or compost is soaks in water then ltered
(ROU, 2007); the another method is aerobic system, where it is
similar to pervious method except that an aquarium-size pump
and air bubbler are used in association with microbial food
(Ingham, 2005). Another method is collecting leachate from compost pile. All these methods are affected by factors which are:
the initial material quality, amount of material to water ratio, aeration, fermentation nutrients, brewing time and ltration materials
(Ingham, 2005; Scheuerell and Mahaffee, 2002). Application of
recovered leachate from composted animal manures through irrigation systems has been shown to improve crop yield and overall
agronomic performance (Alcantara and dela Cruz, 2005). A number
of methods are available for application of manures or composts as
liquids; for example, compost tea has been shown to be effective in
suppressing soil-borne fungal diseases (Santos et al., 2011;
Scheuerell and Mahaffee, 2004). However, one of the drawbacks
of these methods is that the resultant solution following extraction
of nutrients generally carries a high concentration of salts (e.g.,
electrical conductivity [EC] P 20 dS m1) and high pH (e.g., P8.0)
(Guo et al., 2009; Guo and Song, 2009), and therefore, can adversely affect the physical and chemical properties of the soil after application. The changes in the physical properties of soil as a result of
the application of animal manure have been reported in many
studies. (Schjonning et al., 1994) observed the changes in physical
properties of soil due to increased organic carbon in soil. Changes
induced in overall soil conditions can affect nutrient uptake and
use efciency by the crop (Jakobsen, 1992). Tisdall and Oades
(1982) found that the stability of soil aggregate relies on the quality and quantity of organic matter in soil. In addition, these methods employ processes that are only applicable on a small-scale, or
under laboratory conditions. Therefore, there is a need to develop a
method that may enable extraction of nutrients from organic
materials, such as compost and manures, which can be satisfactorily applied at a commercial-scale. Such a method should allow for
segmentation of leachate, that is, sequential extraction of nutrients, accounting for efciency of nutrient leaching in each extraction. It is envisaged that efcient extraction of soluble nutrients
from chicken manures will provide a mechanism to reduce the cost
of handling and eld application when applied as liquid compared
with solid because of the relatively higher concentration of nutrients in the material. In addition, it will provide greater control over
nutrient supply to the crop throughout the growing season to better match nutrient availability (supply) with crop requirement
(uptake), which in turn will improve agronomic efciency and will
reduce environmental concerns. To enable operation at commercial-scale, a better understanding of nutrient dynamics during

extraction is required. Therefore, the objective of this study was

to determine the efciency of extraction of soluble nutrients contained in fresh and composted chicken manures as affected by column design. It was hypothesized that quality and quantity of
nutrients extracted would be signicantly affected by column
design.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Manure and compost sampling
Samples of fresh chicken manure and mature chicken compost
were supplied by Enviroganics Pty Ltd. (Pittsworth, QLD, Australia).
Fresh manure samples of 0.025 m3 (nominal bulk density = 250 kg m3, standard deviation = 33.4) were collected from a
chicken production unit immediately after cleaning of pens. The
samples contained waste feed and other residues including membrane eggshell, pellets and feathers.
Samples of mature compost were collected from a compost pile
available at Enviroganics Pty Ltd. The composting process consisted of heaping fresh manure constituents in windrows that were
turned periodically and moistened during turning, using spray jets.
The water source used was reportedly diluted piggery efuent. The
mature compost material had undergone a stabilisation period of
18 weeks. Sampling was performed by dividing the pile into ten
10 m long sections, and ve representative samples of 0.005 m3
were collected from each section, bulked, and subsequently transported to the laboratory for storage at 4 C. All samples were
homogenised using a rotary drum, and ve representative subsamples of approximately 500 g each were taken for analyses of
physical and chemical properties, which were performed within
48 h of collection.

2.2. Characterisation of fresh manure and compost

Manure and compost samples were subjected to the following
determinations: moisture content (%, w w1) (Peters et al., 2003),
total carbon (%, w w1) and total nitrogen (%, w w1), which were
replicated ve times (n = 5). Total carbon (BS7755 Section 3.8,
1995) and total nitrogen (Dumas, 1831) were determined using a
PrimacsSNC CarbonNitrogen/Protein Analyzer (Skalar, The Netherlands). The following determinations were replicated three times
(n = 3): organic matter (%, w w1) and ash (%, w w1) contents
were determined by loss-on-ignition (Thompson et al., 2001). Electric conductivity (EC, dS m1) and pH were measured in a 1:10
sample-to-water ratio based on MAFF (1986). Cation exchange
capacity (CEC) and exchangeable cations were determined using
the ammonium acetate method described in Hendershot et al.
(2007). Water soluble nutrients (mg g1): nitrogen (N), phosphorus
(P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na) and
chloride (Cl) were extracted by shaking a 5 g air-dry sample of the
material in 40 mL of distilled water for 30 min. The samples were
subsequently ltered and the liquid retained for analysis. Total
nutrients: P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, and Cl were determined by means of
wet ashing based on (Peters et al., 2003). Determination of Ca,
Mg, K and Na was conducted using a SHIMADZU Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) connected to an auto-sampler.
Determination of P and Cl was conducted using a DIONEX Ion
Chromatography System (ICS-2000), the ow rate was 1 ml min1
and the run time was 18 min per sample. Total dissolved carbon
and nitrogen were determined using a SHIMADZU Total Organic
Carbon analyser (TOC-VCSH) connected to a SHIMADZU Total
Nitrogen analyser (TNM-1). Particle density (qp, g cm3), total porosity (g, %) and pore volume (PV, cm3), were estimated based on the

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avoid loss of material. The required density within the column

was obtained by consolidating the material at regular depth increments of 25 mm to achieve uniform density in the entire column.
This was performed using a steel compaction dolly. Depth of columns was chosen with respect to the ponded hydraulic head of
50 mm to achieve a hydraulic gradient of 2.0 and 1.5 for the
50 mm and 100 mm columns, respectively.

Table 1
Characteristics and nutrient contents of fresh and composted chicken manure.
Material

Fresh chicken
manure

Mature chicken
compost

Parameter

Value

Std.
error

Value

Std.
error

Moisture content (%, w w1)

Total carbon (%, w w1)
Total nitrogen (%, w w1)
Total phosphorus (mg g1)
Total potassium (mg g1)
Total calcium (mg g1)
Total magnesium (mg g1)
Total sodium (mg g1)
Total chloride (mg g1)
pH (1:10 ratio)
EC (1:10 ratio) (dS m1)

65.74
57.50
8.57
22.42
79.19
30.60
26.73
15.19
76.21
8.80
11.80

0.28
0.18
0.81
2.14
3.10
5.90
2.18
0.66
8.54
0.02
0.26

36.36
28.52
4.47
13.22
40.19
55.62
19.81
10.95
34.20
7.48
6.21

0.85
0.10
0.14
3.70
1.11
0.94
4.98
0.30
12.3
0.02
0.01

Water soluble nutrients

Phosphorus (mg g1)
Potassium (mg g1)
Calcium (mg g1)
Magnesium (mg g1)
Sodium (mg g1)
Chloride (mg g1)
Sulfate (mg g1)
Cation exchange capacity
(meq 100 g1)

13.33
46.69
1.13
5.59
3.81
7.37
0.25
47.38

1.27
0.66
0.02
0.89
0.05
0.33
0.02
1.29

5.85
28.35
0.90
1.21
2.31
5.33
<0.01
330

0.16
0.17
0.11
0.23
0.11
0.01

6.66

Exchangeable cations
Potassium (meq 100 g1)
Calcium (meq 100 g1)
Magnesium (meq 100 g1)
Sodium (meq 100 g1)

10.51
55.78
12.67
6.36

0.32
1.69
0.38
0.19

5.33
101.40
9.39
4.58

0.16
3.07
0.28
0.14

2.4. Saturated hydraulic conductivity and collection of leachate

following equations, respectively (after Agnew and Leonard

(2003):

1

A

1550
2650

qp  OM

where qp is particle density (g cm3), OM is organic matter content

(%), and A is ash content (%).

g1

qb  qp

 100

where g is total porosity (%), qb is bulk density (g cm3), and qp is

particle density (g cm3).

PV g  VolColumn

3
3

where PV is pore volume (cm ), g is total porosity (%), and VolColumn

is the volume of the column (cm3).
2.3. Preparation of experimental columns and extraction of soluble
nutrients
The chicken manure and mature compost samples were packed
into 87.5 mm inner diameter Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) columns at
two depths (50 and 100 mm, respectively) until the following
(bulk) densities were achieved: 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 g cm3, and 0.4,
0.5 and 0.6 g cm3, respectively. PVC caps, mesh and lter paper
(Whatman No.: 45) were placed on both ends of the columns to

Measurements were conducted under controlled conditions of

temperature, which was set at 20 C (Benson and Trast, 1995).
Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) was determined using the
constant head method described in Klute (1965). Leaching events
were performed using distilled water. A constant water head of
50 mm was applied to the top of each column. The outow was
captured in plastic containers of 500 mL capacity placed at the bottom of each column. The outow leachate was sequentially captured for separate analysis following application of distilled
water at rates of 150 mL and 300 mL to short columns (50 mm)
and long columns (100 mm), respectively. These sequential increments will be referred to as leaching events numbered from one
to ten (LE1 to LE10), respectively. Therefore, the total volume captured as leachate was 1500 mL and 3000 mL for short columns
(50 mm) and long columns (100 mm), respectively. The time
required for the applied water to percolate through the columns
was recorded. Determination of pH and EC in leachate was conducted immediately after collection of the leachate. Subsequently,
the leachate was ltered through a 0.45 lm glass bre lter to
remove suspended material present in the sample and maintained
at 4 C until chemical analyses were conducted within 48 h of collection. The following analyses were conducted on the leachate
samples: total dissolved carbon (TDC, mg g1) and total dissolved
nitrogen (TDN, mg g1) using a SHIMADZU total organic carbon
and nitrogen analyser, water soluble phosphorus and chloride
(mg g1) were measured using a DIONEX Ion Chromatography System set at 1 mL min1 (ow rate) and 18 min per sample (running
time), and water soluble cations (K, Ca, Mg and Na) were determined by using an (AAS). A Leachate Efciency index (LEI, %) was
calculated based on (Carrin et al., 2004):



x
 100
LEI 1 
x0

where LEI is leaching efciency index (%), x is ion concentration

(mg L1) in the compost or manure after leaching, and x0 is the
ion concentration (mg L1) in the material before leaching.
The cation ratio of soil structural stability (CROSS) (Rengasamy
and Marchuk, 2011) replaces sodium absorption ratio and provides
an indication of potential effect of leachate on soil structure as
inuenced by the dispersive characteristics of Na, K and Mg. CROSS
was determined by applying Eq. (5):

CROSS

Na 0:56  K
q

Ca0:6Mg
2

where Na, K, Ca, and Mg are concentrations (meq L1) of sodium,

potassium, calcium and magnesium, respectively.

Table 2
Changes recorded in total nutrient composition of chicken manure after a composting period of 125 days.
Total nutrient

Unit

(%)

Fresh chicken manure

Composted chicken manure
Relative change (%)

57.50
28.52
50.4

K
1

(mg g
8.57
4.47
47.8

82.42
53.22
35.3

Na

Ca

Mg

Cl

15.20
10.95
27.9

30.60
55.62
+81.8

26.73
19.81
25.9

76.21
34.20
55.1

, dry solids)
79.20
40.20
49.3

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Fig. 1. Saturated hydraulic conductivity of chicken manures as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d)
100 mm columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

Fig. 2. Total dissolved salts (TDS) extracted from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and
(d) 100 mm columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

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Fig. 3. Total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d)
100 mm columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

2.5. Experimental design and statistical analyses

The study was conducted in complete randomised design with
three factors, namely, bulk density, column length and number of
leaching events. The data reported correspond to the mean value
of three replicated measurements (n = 3), except for total carbon
and total nitrogen in both materials (n = 5). Statistical analyses were
undertaken using the statistical package SPSS V19 (Cramer, 2004).
Analyses involved univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA). Twoway ANOVA was used to determine the effect of bulk density and
column length on each parameter. Least signicant differences
(LSD) were used to compare the means with a probability level of 5%.

3. Results

(P < 0.05). Total nitrogen and potassium were approximately 50%

lower in composted compared with fresh manure, while total
phosphorus and magnesium were approximately 35% and 25%
lower, respectively. However, calcium content was higher
(P < 0.05) in the composted compared with the fresh material, possibly due to the high concentration of calcium in the sawdust
(Higashikawa et al., 2010). Soluble ion concentrations were all lower in the compost than the fresh material (P < 0.05) due to leaching
and runoff from the compost pile. The cation exchange capacity
was higher in the compost (P < 0.05). Total carbon was relatively
lower in the compost compared to the manure (P < 0.05) (see
Table 2).

3.2. Hydraulic conductivity as affected by column length and packing

density

3.1. Characterisation of chicken manure and compost

There were signicant (P < 0.05) differences in the chemical
properties of the fresh and composted materials due primarily to
the composting processes (Table 1). In general, the nutrient leached was lower in the compost than in the fresh material

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) of the fresh manure was

higher (P < 0.05) than the mature compost Ksat (Fig. 1a). In all circumstances, Ksat was initially high but decreased rapidly as more
water was applied. There was a signicant (P < 0.05) difference in
Ksat after 10, 6.8 and 4.8 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter

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Fig. 4. Leaching efciency index (LEI) for total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) as affected by column length and packing density in: (a) fresh chicken manure and (b) composted
chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level. LEI is dened in Eq. (4).

were applied to the 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 g cm3 fresh manure columns,
respectively. Saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased (P < 0.05)
with increasing packing density, which was observed for all materials and column lengths. The nal Ksat for the low packing density
(0.2 g cm3) fresh manure treatment was 3.3 mm h1 in the 50 mm
column and 2.3 mm h1 in the 100 mm column. For the fresh manure, there was no signicant difference (P > 0.05) in Ksat for the 50
and 100 mm columns and there was not signicant (P > 0.05) interaction between column length and packing density on Ksat (Fig. 1b).
The Ksat of the mature compost was affected (P < 0.01) by both
packing density and column lengths. For example, a change in
packing density from 0.4 to 0.6 g cm3 in the 50 mm column
decreased initial Ksat from 561.2 to 349.3 mm h1. Similarly,
increased column length generally reduced Ksat. However, the Ksat
observed for the 0.4 g cm3, 100 mm column length treatment
was signicantly lower (P < 0.05) than for the 0.5 and 0.6 g cm3

treatments (Fig. 1d). It is not clear the reason for this response;
however, it was noted that the packing densities of the 0.4, 0.5
and 0.6 g cm3 treatments in the 50 mm mature compost columns
increased to 0.67, 0.63 and 0.66 g cm3, respectively, after 1.2, 1
and 0.8 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter were applied to
the columns, respectively. Similarly, bulk densities of the 0.4 and
0.5 g cm3 treatments in the 100 mm columns were observed to
increase to 0.73 and 0.58 g cm3, respectively. However, there
was no change (P > 0.05) in bulk density for the 0.6 g cm3 mature
compost treatment in the 100 mm column.
3.3. Total dissolved salts as affected by column length and packing
density
Bulk density and column length both signicantly (P < 0.05)
inuenced the concentration of total dissolved salts (TDS) in fresh

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Fig. 5. Water soluble phosphorus (P) extracted from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm
and (d) 100 mm columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

chicken manure leachate (Fig. 2). Increasing packing density of the

material in the columns increased the rate of TDS extraction. The
effect of density on TDS extraction was greatest in the 50 mm fresh
manure column and the 100 mm mature compost columns,
respectively. For fresh manure, the highest packing density treatments (0.4 g cm3) produced relatively higher (P < 0.05) initial
TDS (13.9 and 17.4 mg g1) compared to the low (0.2 g cm3) packing density (3.6 and 4.4 mg g1 of TDS) for 50 and 100 mm columns, respectively. The effect of column length on rate of TDS
extraction varied between the two materials. Increasing column
length in the fresh manure generally reduced the rate of TDS leaching. For example, cumulative TDS after application of water at a
rate of 12.5 cm3 per g of dry matter to the 0.4 g cm3 50 mm column treatment was 139.6 mg g1, but reduced to 77.1 mg g1
when the same leaching volume was applied to the 0.4 g cm3,
100 mm treatment. However, the effect on TDS of increasing column length was less evident as packing density decreased with
no signicant (P > 0.05) difference in TDS extraction observed
between the 0.2 g cm3 treatments. Increasing the column length

for the mature compost increased (P < 0.05) the rate of TDS extraction for all bulk densities (Fig. 2c and d). In all circumstances, there
was no signicant (P > 0.05) increase in TDS extracted after
approximately 6 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter had
been applied. However, increasing the column length for the
0.6 g cm3 density treatment increased (P > 0.05) cumulative TDS
extracted from approximately 33.861.5 mg g1 after 6 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter were applied.
3.4. Ions extraction as affected by column length and packing density
3.4.1. Nitrogen
Total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) extraction was relatively higher
(P < 0.05) from fresh compared with composted manure (Fig. 3).
The packing density signicantly (P < 0.05) affected TDN in leachate extracted from both materials (Fig. 3). The highest cumulative TDN (15.1 mg g1) was extracted from the 100 mm fresh
manure column packed at 0.4 g cm3 after 12 cm3 of distilled
water per g of dry matter were applied. Increasing the packing

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density and column length had a signicant effect on soluble P

extraction; increasing packing density generally increased soluble
P in leachate extracted from both materials but, overall, the effect
was greater in fresh compared with mature compost treatments
(P-values < 0.05). Column length inuenced (P < 0.05) soluble P
extraction in both materials. For fresh manure, there was no signicant difference in soluble P extraction between the 50 and
100 mm columns when packed at either 0.2 or 0.3 g cm3 (Fig. 5a
and b). However, the composted manure packed to 0.4 g cm3
yielded relatively higher (P < 0.05) soluble P values in leachate
extracted from the 50 mm compared with the 100 mm columns
(Fig. 5c and d). There was no effect (P > 0.05) of column length
on soluble P extraction after 2.43.6 cm3 of distilled water per g
of dry matter were applied but signicantly more water soluble
P was extracted from the 100 mm columns than the 50 mm with
increasing water application rate.
The 100 mm column was relatively more efcient at extracting
water soluble P from fresh manure compared with the 50 mm column (Fig. 6). The highest LEI for P was 98.8% in the 100 mm column
packed at 0.4 g cm3 despite that the overall effect of packing density on water soluble P extraction from the fresh manure was not
signicant (P > 0.05). There was no column length or bulk density
effects (P-values > 0.05) on LEI for soluble P extraction in the composted chicken manure treatment.

Fig. 6. Leaching efciency index (LEI) for water soluble phosphorus (P) as affected
by column length and packing density in: (a) fresh chicken manure and (b)
composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level. LE is dened
in Eq. (4).

density was found to have a signicant (P < 0.05) effect on TDN

extraction in the fresh manure but produced no difference in the
mature compost treatment. Increased packing density in fresh
manure (0.4 g cm3) produced high TDN in both column lengths
(Fig. 3a and b). An increase column length produced a small but
statistically signicant (P < 0.05) increase in TDN for both fresh
manure and mature compost treatments.
Increasing water application signicantly (P < 0.05) affected
cumulative TDN recovery in all treatments (Fig. 3) but it tended
to plateau after 6.49.6 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter
were applied in both the 50 and 100 mm mature compost columns.
This effect was less evident for the 50 and 100 mm fresh manure
columns where the change in cumulative TDN was signicant until
1225 cm3 of distilled water per g of dry matter were applied. The
fresh manure treatments showed higher (P < 0.05) nitrogen LEI in
the 100 mm compared with the 50 mm columns as shown in
(Fig. 4). The highest value of LEI (98.6%) for N was found for the
100 mm column treatment packed at 0.4 g cm3. Conversely, the
mature compost treatment showed that 50 mm columns were signicantly more efcient in extracting N than 100 mm columns
(Fig. 4). There was no effect (P < 0.05) on LEI of N due to increasing
packing density in mature compost for both 50 and 100 mm columns. However, an increase in packing density in the 50 mm columns lled with fresh manure did not increase (P > 0.05) the LEI
for N (Fig. 4a).
3.4.2. Phosphorus
Extraction of water soluble phosphorus (P) was higher (P < 0.05)
from fresh compared with composted material (Fig. 5). Packing

3.4.3. Potassium
Fig. 7 shows potassium (K) concentration in leachate extracted
from fresh manure and composted chicken manure. Overall, the
highest concentrations of soluble K (23.5 and 18.4 mg g1) were
extracted from the 50 mm fresh manure column packed to
0.4 g cm3 and the 100 mm mature compost column packed to
0.5 g cm3, respectively. Column length signicantly affected K
extraction in both materials but the 100 mm columns were
relatively more effective than the 50 mm columns (P < 0.05);
except for the 50 mm columns containing fresh manure packed
to 0.4 g cm3, which yielded consistently lower K values in leachate compared with the 100 mm column (Fig. 7). An increase in
packing density resulted in increased (P < 0.05) rate of K extraction
but to a greater extent in short compared with long columns,
which was observed for both materials. The rate of K extraction
from fresh manure columns increased linearly with the rate of
water application whereas for the mature compost, the relationship was non-linear and it plateaued when the water applied
was higher than about 3 cm3 per g of dry matter (Fig. 7). LEI for
K was signicantly (P < 0.05) affected by bulk density in the fresh
manure treatment (Fig. 8), which showed a decrease with increasing packing density, particularly, in the 100 mm columns. The
highest LEI value for K (97.4%) was recorded on the low density
(0.2 g cm3) 100 mm column treatments (Fig. 8a). In the mature
compost treatment, the 100 mm columns reported consistently
lower LEI compared with 50 mm columns (50 mm), which showed
a LEI of 99.5%.
3.4.4. Sodium and chloride
The leachate collected from the columns containing fresh chicken manure reported consistently higher (P < 0.05) sodium (Na)
contents than those with mature compost (Fig. 9). The effect of
packing density on Na extraction was greater (P < 0.05) than that
observed for column length. For fresh manure, the rate of Na
extraction remained close to constant with increasing water application rate whereas leachate collected from mature compost columns reported relatively higher Na content within the rst
leaching events, that is, when water applied was approximately
46 cm3 per g of dry matter. Similarly, chloride (Cl) extraction
was inuenced (P < 0.05) by column length and packing density
and it leached at a relatively faster rate compared with Na (Fig. 10).

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Fig. 7. Potassium (K) extracted from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d) 100 mm
columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

3.4.5. Cation ratio of soil stability

Cation ratio of soil stability (CROSS) generally decreased with
increasing rate of water applied for all treatments (Fig. 11). Packing
density signicantly (P < 0.05) inuenced the initial value of leachate CROSS. For all treatments, CROSS decreased with increasing
packing density, except for fresh manure in the 50 mm columns.
The 50 mm columns with fresh manure showed relatively higher
CROSS values initially compared with the 100 mm columns
(Fig. 11a and b). By contrast, the 100 mm columns containing
mature compost reported signicantly (P < 0.05) higher CROSS values initially compared with 50 mm columns (Fig. 11c and d).

4. Discussion
4.1. Comparison of fresh manure and mature compost leachate
The content of soluble nutrients in chicken manure and leachate is highly affected by the composting process (Table 1).
Higher nutrient concentrations were generally observed in fresh

manure compared with mature compost presumably due to both

addition of sawdust (dilution of bulk nutrient source) and nutrient
leaching during composting, which agrees with observations made
in studies investigating the fate of nutrient and transformations in
organic materials used for compost e.g., (Eneji et al., 2003;
Mahimairaja et al., 1994; Martins and Dewes, 1992; Tiquia and
Tam, 2000). Relatively higher concentrations of N, P and K in fresh
manure conrmed that this material provides a more readily available source of soluble nutrients compared to mature compost.
However, fresh manure is usually highly heterogeneous, even from
the same source (Tasistro et al., 2004), and variation between leachates may reduce the commercial viability of this medium. Nitrogen losses (48%) during composting were found to be within the
range (from 47% to 62%) reported by Kithome et al. (1999) for
chicken layer manure, but slightly lower than those indicated by
Ogunwande et al. (2008) during composting of chicken litter
(range: 7188%). Electrical conductivity (EC) measurements of
the material conducted before (11.80 dS m1) and after
(6.21 dS m1) composting conrmed that nutrient loss occurred
during the process (Table 1). Similar nutrient losses are reported

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A.M. Ksheem et al. / Waste Management xxx (2015) xxxxxx

Fig. 8. Leaching efciency index (LEI) for potassium (K) as affected by column length and packing density in: (a) fresh chicken manure and (b) composted chicken manure.
Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level. LE is dened in Eq. (4).

in Eghball et al. (1997) for cattle feedlot manure that had undergone composting. Fresh manure leachate exhibited relatively high
concentration of macronutrients (N, P and K), as well as potentially
toxic ions such as Na and Cl, which agrees with observations made
by Kokkora et al. (2010).
The extraction process for removal of nutrients was longer in
fresh manure compared to mature compost. Leaching times ranged
from 0.3 to 2.5 days for fresh manure in the short columns treatments, and between 1 day and 3 days in the longer columns. By
contrast, leaching time for mature compost ranged from 5 to
19 h and from 0.3 to 2 days for the short and long columns, respectively. Nutrient extraction from fresh manure may be less attractive because of the time required to complete the leaching
process and the relatively high sodium and chloride concentrations
in the leachate. Munns and Tester (2008) observed that NaCl concentrations in soil above a threshold value of 40 mmol L1 reduce
shoot growth in most arable crops due to increased external osmotic pressure and progressive accumulation of Na in the leaves. This

reduces crop yield (Tavakkoli et al., 2010) because of adverse

effects on critical biochemical processes and water uptake. While
fresh chicken manure is potentially a valuable source from which
soluble nutrients can be extracted, three major issues are identied, which may affect its commercial viability:
(1) Relatively long leaching time due to signicant reduction in
Ksat shortly after application of water to columns,
(2) high concentration of Na and Cl in leachate may affect soil
aggregate stability (Ezlit et al., 2013) and plant physiological
responses (Tavakkoli et al., 2010), and
(3) leachate derived from uncomposted fresh chicken manure
may contain a high pathogen load, importantly, Escherichia
coli and Salmonella spp. (Gross et al., 2008).
The reduction in Ksat occurs as a result of disaggregation of fresh
manure and downward migration of particles in suspension followed by entrainment (reduced ow rate) and cementation of the-

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11

Fig. 9. Sodium (Na) extracted from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d) 100 mm
columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

se particles toward the bottom of the columns. The initial disaggregation occurs because of relatively high concentration of soluble
salts contained in the material. As a result, leachate yield and rate
of leaching are signicantly affected.
An issue associated with extraction soluble of nutrients from
chicken manures is the residual (solid) material after leaching process has been performed. This residual material was found to have
relatively large quantities of nutrients. Thus, composting of this
material could be a potential solution for nutrient recovery and
re-utilization. Subsequently, compost produced from this material
may be suitable for utilization in nursery owing to its relatively
low salinity. This study showed that the electric conductivity
(EC1:10) of chicken manure was reduced from 11.80 to
2.46 dS m1 after ten pore volumes were applied. However, high
quality composts require a critical level of essential nutrients,
which must remain in the manure after the extraction process
has been completed. In this respect, several studies e.g., (Rynk
et al., 1992) have indicated that this critical level of essential
nutrients such as N, P and K, is needed by microorganisms to help
breakdown organic matter during the composting process.

Therefore, a sufcient level of nutrients must be maintained to

facilitate microbial activity.
4.2. Interaction between column length and packing density
For mature compost, the use of longer columns (100 mm) was
found to be more effective for extraction of nutrients than the
shorter columns (50 mm) with consistently higher concentrations
of soluble nutrients in leachate irrespective of initial packing density. The difference in column performance is mainly attributed to
contact time between added distilled water and the material in the
column. These observations agree closely with Lpez Meza et al.
(2010) who found that prolonged contact times enhanced the
release of contaminants from the investigated waste material in
the columns to the percolating solution. Further studies concerning
the use of ameliorants for soil health have shown that leaching
concentration and effectiveness of ameliorant dissolution are
strongly related to increased contact time between the ameliorant
and the percolating solution (Ghafoor et al., 1988), which is in
keeping with the results observed in this work. In the longer

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Fig. 10. Chloride (Cl) extracted from chicken manure as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d) 100 mm
columns of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level.

columns lled with mature compost, packing density had a signicant (P < 0.05) effect on the type and quantity of salts encountered in leachate. Increasing packing density signicantly
increased the cumulative salt extraction due to increased contact
time between the percolating solution and the solid phase. This
occurs because total porosity and pores connectivity are reduced
in the denser columns (Van Ginkel et al., 1999), which in turn,
reduced Ksat and increased contact time. For the mature compost
columns packed to 0.4 g cm3, the relatively high total dissolved
salt (TDS) values encountered are explained by material migration
and further consolidation (slumping and settling, respectively) as
discussed earlier, and dissolution of soluble structural bonds. There
was also a qualitative effect of packing density on leachate, which
determined the type of cations (K+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+) or anions
3
(NO
3 > PO4 ) that dominated the leachate. This was attributed to
differential mobility of ions in the solution passing through the column and the concentration of ion in material.
Solutions with high CROSS values are likely to cause dispersion
of clay following soil application (Rengasamy and Marchuk, 2011)
and result in soil pore blockage, decreased inltration and conduc-

tivity, and ultimately, poor crop performance (Sumner, 1993). The

lowest CROSS value (1.4) was recorded in the mature compost
treatment packed to 0.6 g cm3 in 50 mm columns. The highest
CROSS value (13.7) was recorded in the fresh manure treatment
packed to 0.4 g cm3 in 50 mm columns. Considering this, and
based on the above results, it appears that under the experimental
conditions of this study, nutrient extraction from mature compost
is enhanced when the material is packed to 0.5 g cm3 (initial density) in 100 mm long columns. Similarly, for fresh manure nutrient
extraction is enhanced when the material is packed to 0.4 g cm3
(initial density) in 100 mm columns. Such column designs enable
high rates of nutrient extraction, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus (LEI values >98%), with acceptable concentrations of Na
and Cl in leachate.
4.3. Treatment of leachate for correction of CROSS
CROSS is a measure of the relative concentrations of Na, K, Ca
and Mg in the solution, which accounts for the dispersive potential
of K and Mg in addition to the traditionally documented dispersive

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13

Fig. 11. Cation ratio of soil stability (CROSS) as affected by packing density in: (a) 50 mm and (b) 100 mm columns of fresh manure, and (c) 50 mm and (d) 100 mm columns
of composted chicken manure. Error bars denote LSD values at 5% level. CROSS is dened in Eq. (5).

potential of Na (Rengasamy and Marchuk, 2011). Therefore,

changes in relative concentrations of the above cations in the leachate will affect CROSS. Leachate fractioning (by volume) is suggested as an effective means to enable reductions in CROSS, that
is, increased concentration of Ca relative to Na. Disposal of the rst
and second leachate volumes collected from mature compost leachate obtained from the 0.4 g cm3, 100 mm column length would
decrease CROSS from 4.6 to 2.8 (Fig. 12), and signicantly minimise
the deleterious effect on soil structure of applied leachate. Similarly, for fresh manure (100 mm column, 0.4 g cm3 packing density),
leachate CROSS may be reduced from 7.0 to 5.9 if the rst two leachate volumes are not needed. The decrease occurs because the
majority of Na (74%) is leached within the rst, second and third
leaching events whereas Ca and Mg are held more strongly and
are released at slower rates. The main drawback of leachate

fractionation is the associated loss of N, P and K and therefore

research is needed to identify mechanisms for the recovery of these nutrients from the discarded leachate. However, the concentration of N, P and K from subsequent leaching events is still
satisfactory for use as a fertiliser (Fig 12). Furthermore, discarding
of leachate fractions results in generation of further waste is an
inefcient use of water. In scaling the process towards commercial
operation, water use efciency should be maximised. It is possible
that future research could consider the use of small reverse osmosis units to recover water, but a brine would still be leftover and if
discarded would result in loss of nutrients as discussed above.
An alternative method to reduce leachate CROSS is incorporation
of an external source of calcium, which will change the relative concentrations of Na and Ca (e.g., gypsum CaSO42H2O). For example,
based on the observed CROSS of 17.06 at LE10 for 100 mm columns

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Fig. 12. Determination of CROSS in: (a) fresh manure leachate and (b) mature compost leachate; nutrient concentration in fresh manure leachate (c) before and (d) after
fractionation, respectively, and in manure compost leachate (e) before and (f) after fractionation, respectively. CROSS is dened in Eq. (5).

of fresh chicken manure packed at qb = 0.4 g cm3, an external

source of Ca equating to 38.36 meq L1 would be required to reduce
the leachate CROSS to a more acceptable level of 4.
Depending on degree of alkalinity, Na imbalances in solution
may also be corrected by applying acid to the solution, or by
means of sulphur-based amendments applied to soil, which
has been successfully demonstrated for highly alkaline groundwater application to land (Johnston et al., 2008). Using this
method of leachate quality improvement means that all nutrients recovered are utilised and also that no further waste is produced. However, it is hinged on economic availability of a
calcium source.

5. Conclusions
This study was conducted to determine the efciency of extraction of soluble nutrients from fresh manures and mature composts.
The results showed that soluble nutrients are more readily extracted from fresh chicken manure. Leachate extracted from fresh
chicken manure may require treatment to reduce the CROSS of
the nal solution. The Ksat of fresh manure is also slow and, hence
a long time is needed to complete the leaching process. This further
reduces the commercial attractiveness without further engineering
solutions. Due to the increased contact time between the percolating solution and the mature compost medium, a 100 mm column

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of compost was observed to provide greater macronutrient (N, P

and K) extraction per unit volume compared to the 50 mm column.
Packing density was also found to have a signicant impact on the
quality of the leachate with a packing density of 0.4 g cm3 and
100 mm column for fresh manure columns and 0.5 g cm3,
100 mm column for mature compost, identied as optimum for
nutrient extraction. Finally, to avoid the negative effects of high
solution CROSS on agricultural soil permeability, fractionation of
extracted leachate was identied as a possible strategy by which
to reduce sodium concentration and thus leachate CROSS.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Libyan Government and the
National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, University of Southern Queensland (Australia) for nancial and operational support to
conduct this research.
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Please cite this article in press as: Ksheem, A.M., et al. Towards a method for optimized extraction of soluble nutrients from fresh and composted chicken
manures. Waste Management (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.02.011