Plant Soil Environ., X:X | DOI: 10.17221/562/2025-PSE

Long-term effects of organic and mineral fertilisation on soil manganese dynamics and agricultural sustainabilityOriginal Paper

Sarfo Kwaku Obeng1, Martin Kulhánek ORCID...1, Jiří Balík ORCID...1, Jindřich Černý ORCID...1, Ondřej Sedlář ORCID...1
1 Department of Agro-Environmental Chemistry and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Manganese (Mn) is often underestimated in plant nutrition. Its availability to plants is influenced by several factors, which can lead to Mn deficiency or toxicity. The objective was to evaluate the transformation of soil Mn over 21 years in a long-term field experiment. Fertilising with (i) sewage sludge 1 (SS1); (ii) sewage sludge 3 (3 times higher nitrogen (N) dose, SS3); (iii) farmyard manure (FYM); (iv) mineral nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) and (v) mineral nitrogen in addition to straw (Nst) was studied to evaluate the transformations of Mn in soil using different extraction methods at the 5 locations. There was a general reduction in the pH during the experiment. Soil acidification caused by mineral N fertiliser increased the bioavailable Mn forms under NPK treatment. This Mn was mobilised from soil reserves, leading to depletion of Mn sources. Application of SS and FYM led to an increase in non-bioavailable Mn fractions, while the expected increase in biologically available Mn was not observed. As the high pH of soil limits Mn availability, foliar Mn application can be recommended for agricultural practice in high-pH soils. On the contrary, liming can be recommended for low-pH soil with high bioavailable Mn content to mitigate the risk of Mn toxicity.

Keywords: soil manganese bioavailability; soil acidification; nutrient immobilisation; nonexchangeable and pseudototal manganese

Received: December 14, 2025; Revised: February 17, 2026; Accepted: February 18, 2026; Prepublished online: March 6, 2026 

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