N and C impacts of permaculture chickens (abstract only)

Soil nitrogen and carbon impacts of raising chickens on pasture 

Pasture-raised chicken is an alternative to industrial production. In this agricultural model, manure is deposited directly onto grassland soils. The fate of manure nitrogen from pasture-raised chicken production remains poorly understood. We conducted a controlled, replicated experiment on a permaculture farm in which small chicken coops were moved daily in a pasture. Manure deposition was relatively constant over the four weeks pasture-lifetime of the chickens. Soil gaseous reactive nitrogen losses were less in this pasture system compared to cultivated field amended with raw chicken manure. These results suggest that pasture manure management may have a smaller impact on gaseous reactive nitrogen pollution.