Plant Soil Environ., 2025, 71(9):621-637 | DOI: 10.17221/308/2025-PSE

Correlation of DGT-P and conventional soil P tests with rye shoot biomass and P uptake across temperate soils with differential soil propertiesOriginal Paper

Alireza Golestanifard1,2, Markus Puschenreiter ORCID...1, Robert Manglberger1, Marion Gotthard2, Herbert Eigner3, Bernhard Spangl4, Walter Wenzel1, Jakob Santner2,5
1 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Institute of Soil Research, Tulln, Austria
2 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Institute of Agronomy, Tulln, Austria
3 AGRANA Research & Innovation Centre GmbH, Tulln, Austria
4 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Institute of Statistics, Vienna, Austria
5 Justus Liebig University Giessen, Institute of Plant Nutrition, Giessen, Germany

Several phosphorus (P) extraction tests are being used as soil P tests, but many studies have shown that the correlation of extractable P with plant yield and P uptake varies and sometimes is poor. Infinite sink extraction methods may be superior in estimating plant P availability. Soil P tests were evaluated for their power in determining plant-available P pools. Thirty arable soils covering different soil groups were tested for soil characteristics and extractable P pools. Rye was grown on these soils for six weeks and analysed for shoot yield and shoot P concentrations. Correlations between soil P concentrations, shoot yield and shoot P content were investigated. Extractable P pools mostly significantly correlated with soil pH, texture and amorphous iron oxide content. High and significant correlations were found among most of the extractable soil P pools, except for calcium acetate lactate (CAL)-extractable P. In contrast to previous studies, diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT)-extractable P employed in our pot experiment did not perform better than other extraction methods in correlating with plant available P and uptake, likely because water availability was not a limiting factor of P diffusion. Plant-available P in the soils investigated in this study was controlled by P quantity (i.e. the amount of adsorbed P) and P intensity (i.e. the soil solution P). We conclude that the advantage of infinite sink extraction methods over equilibrium-based techniques becomes less apparent if P is not strongly intensity-controlled and water availability is not a limiting factor of P diffusion.

Keywords: phosphorus; macronutrient; extractability; soil extraction; bioavailability; plant biomass; Mitscherlich function

Received: July 16, 2025; Revised: August 26, 2025; Accepted: August 27, 2025; Prepublished online: September 25, 2025; Published: September 26, 2025  Show citation

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Golestanifard A, Puschenreiter M, Manglberger R, Gotthard M, Eigner H, Spangl B, et al.. Correlation of DGT-P and conventional soil P tests with rye shoot biomass and P uptake across temperate soils with differential soil properties. Plant Soil Environ. 2025;71(9):621-637. doi: 10.17221/308/2025-PSE.
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