Plant Soil Environ., 2018, 64(5):214-220 | DOI: 10.17221/709/2017-PSE

Soil phosphorus and relationship to phosphorus balance under long-term fertilizationOriginal Paper

Benhua SUN^1,2, Quanhong CUI^1,2, Yun GUO^1,2, Xueyun YANG^1,2, Shulan ZHANG^1,2, Mingxia GAO^*,3, David W. HOPKINS^4,5

¹ College of Natural Resources & Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, P.R. China

² Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition & Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, P.R. China

³ College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, P.R. China

⁴ Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK

⁵ Scotland?s Rural College, Peter Wilson Building, Edinburgh, UK

Temporal changes in the concentrations of plant-available phosphorus (P) in soil (Olsen-P), total soil-P and P activation coefficient (the ratio of Olsen-P to residual-P (i.e. an approximation to total-P)) were measured in plots that received consistent inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium plus organic fertilizers annually. Maize and winter wheat crops were grown in rotation for 24 years. Olsen-P and P activation coefficient declined significantly in the earlier years (< 12 years) for treatments that did not include any P fertilizer, and increased over the same period for the P-fertilized treatments. The rates of change in the Olsen-P and P activation coefficient values were positively related to P balance. In the later years, the Olsen-P and P activation coefficient plateau values were positively related to the P balance.

Keywords: loess soil; phosphorus activation coefficient; wheat-maize rotation

Published: May 31, 2018  Show citation