Two environmental aspects associated with land application of poultry litter that have not been comprehensively evaluated are the competition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and P for soil sorption sites, and the sorption of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) relative to inorganic nitrogen species (e.g., NO3- and NH4+) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Competition of DOM and P for sorption sites has often been assumed to increase the amount of P available for plant growth; however, competition may increase P amounts available for transport to water resources. Therefore, batch sorption experiments were conducted to (1) evaluate soil properties governing P sorption to soils of Southwestern Missouri, (2) elucidate the impact of poultry litter-derived DOM on P sorption, and (3) investigate DON retention relative to inorganic N species and DOC. Soils were reacted for 24 h with inorganic P (0-60 mg L-1) in the presence and absence of DOM (145 mg C L-1) in a background electrolyte solution comparable to DOM extracts (I = 10.8 mM; pH 7.7). Soil P sorption was positively correlated with metal oxide (r2 = 0.70) and clay content (r2 = 0.79) and negatively correlated with Bray-1 extractable P (r2 = 0.79). Poultry-litter derived DOM had no negative impact on P sorption, and maximum predicted P sorption (b; modified Langmuir equation) was found to significantly increase for half of the soils reacted with DOM. DON was preferentially removed from solution relative to (NO3- + NO2--N), NH4+-N, and DOC. This research indicates that poultry-litter derived DOM is not likely to enhance P transport and it contradicts the assumption that DOM released from organic wastes increases plant available P when organic amendments and fertilizer P are co-applied.