Litter from broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) production is a beneficial soil amendment containing organic material and many nutrients essential for proper plant growth. However, repeated land application of litter in regions of concentrated broiler production has raised concerns regarding nutrient and trace element loading in soil and potential groundwater and surface water contamination via runoff and leaching. The objective of this study was to evaluate seasonal and annual effects of broiler litter application rate on soil leachate concentrations and leaching losses of several essential plant nutrients [nitrate-N (NO 3 -N), ammonium-N (NH 4 -N), P, K, Ca, Mg, and Na] from a silt-loam soil (fine-silty, siliceous, active, mesic Typic Fragiudult) under tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Shreb.) vegetation in the Ozark Highlands of north-west Arkansas. Equilibrium-tension lysimeters were used to continuously monitor and collect soil leachate solution from below the undisturbed root zone of small plots for a two-year period after two annual broiler litter applications at rates of 0 (control), 5.6 (low), and 11.2 (high) Mg litter ha -1 . In Year 1 (May 2003-April 2004), flow-weighted mean leachate concentrations of Ca, Na, P, and Mg differed among litter rates during one or more periods; however, there were no consistent treatment effects. In Year 2 (May 2004-April 2005), leachate concentrations of Mg and NH 4 -N differed among litter rates during one or more periods, in which all had the greatest concentration under the low-litter treatment. There were no differences in plant nutrient leaching losses among litter rates during either full year or cumulatively over the two-year period. The land use combination of a long history of litter application, followed by several years of no litter, followed by two consecutive years of additional litter application seems to cause few water quality concerns caused by nutrient leaching, with the exception of P if leachate and/or groundwater discharge to the soil surface.
