Evaluation of the microbial community structure of poultry waste and the effects of their application over agricultural soil

Soil microorganisms play important roles participating from nutrient cycling to bioremediation or promoting plant health and growth. The soil bacterial community is sensitive to environmental changes caused by natural or human activities. Loss of microbial diversity is the principal consequence of chemical fertilization, and for this reason, poultry manure and chicken litter had been traditionally utilized as a fertilizer and/or soil conditioner, as there are rich in plant nutrients and can be very beneficial for agricultural soil quality. To understand the ecological effects, over soil microbial community, of microorganisms introduced during poultry wastes application, we characterize the physicochemical, ecotoxicological, and microbiological parameters of poultry waste and the effects over agricultural soils. Our data implicate a little role of the introduced bacteria in shifting soil bacterial community structure. Instead, we show that maintaining the bacterial communities was accompanied by alterations of the soil pH, CE, P total, and possible phytotoxic effects.