Water-soluble phosphorus (P) in broiler litter is used as indicator of potential P contamination of surface waters, and is quantified by shaking broiler litter with water; however the amount of soluble P that can be lost by runoff could be underestimated because the pH of water extract is similar to that of broiler litter (around 8.5), whereas pH of broiler litter applied to soil surface reaches a lower value a few weeks after application. Therefore, extracting broiler litter with buffered solution at soil pH may be better than using an unbuffered solution. The objectives were to evaluate the effects of broiler litter extraction method (none, water, or buffer solution at pH 6) on water-soluble P dynamics following surface application of broiler litter plus thatch. One fraction of broiler litter was left "as is", another fraction was extracted with deionized water and the third fraction was extracted with a solution of buffer-MES at pH 5.99. After 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 42, and 60 days of incubation, the extracts from broiler litter plus thatch were analyzed for water-soluble P. In treatment broiler litter "as is" applied on thatch, water-soluble P decreased from 709 to 582 ug P cm-2 during the first 20 days of incubation and remained relatively constant after that, in treatment “water"-broiler litter applied on thatch, it increased from 115 to 312 ug P cm-2 during the first 14 days, and in treatment "buffer"-broiler litter applied on thatch, water-soluble P increased from 74 to 142 ug P cm-2 during the first 21 days. Thus, the increase in water-soluble P observed with “water”-broiler litter was greater than that observed with “buffer”-broiler litter (197 versus 68 ug P cm-2 ), suggesting that buffer- extraction of broiler litter removes more P that will be released later as water-soluble P than water-extraction.