Plant Foliar Nitrogen and Temperature on Commercial Poultry Farms in Pennsylvania

6 USDA-NRCS-Big Flats Plant Materials Center, Corning, NY 14830. Abstract Trees have been planted for many years in agriculture settings for windbreaks and shade purposes. A new, but largely untested benefit may be as a visual screen for combating neighbor issues, as a barrier for flies, and as a filter for fan emissions from poultry and livestock farms. This field study sought to evaluate the potential of trees planted around commercial poultry farms to trap NH3, the gas of greatest environmental concern to the poultry industry. Four plant species (spruce, poplar, streamco willow, and hybrid willow) were planted in front of the exhaust fans of eight commercial farms from 2003 to 2004. In 2005 because temperature (T) can be a stressor for trees, T was monitored with data loggers among the trees in front of the exhaust fans (11.4 m to 17.7 m) and at a control distance away from the fans (≥48 m) during all four seasons in Pennsylvania. Poplar and spruce foliage samples were taken in August 2005 from one turkey and two layer farms for dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) analysis. The two layer farms had poplar plantings and all three farms had spruce. The results showed that farm type had a significant effect on plant leaf DM but not leaf N. Although poplar had less foliage DM compared to spruce (41.3 vs. 50.1%), it contained greater N (3.43 vs. 2.46%). Plant location clearly showed greater foliar DM and N levels among those plants near the fans compared with controls, 51.0 vs. 40.4% and 3.61 vs. 2.28%, respectively. Greater foliar DM may have resulted from the plants' capacity to trap NH3-N emitted by the exhaust fans resulting in better N status in the tissues, growth and biomass of the plant, or desiccation of the plants from the proximity of the fans. However, the difference in foliar DM and N concentrations due to species, location, and the interaction of the two factors was unlikely correlate with ambient T. Summer T were similar in front of the fans and at a control distance away from the fans on all farms (25.80 vs. 25.32C-layer 1, 25.92 vs. 25.53C-layer 2, and 25.45 vs. 25.54C-turkey) suggesting no greater T stress associated with fan proximity.