In recent decades, drought-induced crop losses have caused significant losses for farmers. Therefore, it is an urgent task for researchers to find innovative solutions that can mitigate crop losses and can be successfully applied in agricultural practice.
Our aim was to transform chicken manure from large-scale poultry farming, which is considered hazardous waste, into composite products by further additions that increase soil organic matter content and have a positive effect on mineralisation processes.
In our experiments, superabsorbent polymers were added as additives to the fermented chicken manure in two different doses (S1 and S2) and their effects on soil parameters were investigated. The results obtained were compared with the control (K) and chicken manure only (KNEX) treatments.
Soil analyses were carried out every six weeks to check the effect of the treatments applied. The results obtained showed that the composite products were effective in increasing soil organic matter content compared to the control.
Our results show that the composite products increase the soil organic nitrogen content over time and have a positive effect on mineralization processes.
In brown forest soils with a poor nutrient supply capacity and a sand texture, we measured a nitrate content of 140–170 mg/kg in the topsoil in the treatments.
This confirms the idea that these composite products are useful for enhancing mineralization and increasing water retention, especially in soils with low nutrient sources and low organic matter content.