Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Phosphorus uptake by grain legumes and subsequently grown wheat at different levels of residual phosphorus fertiliser

M. Nuruzzaman A , Hans Lambers A , Michael D. A. Bolland A B and Erik J. Veneklaas A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B Department of Agriculture Western Australia, PO Box 1231, Bunbury, WA 6231, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: evenekla@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 56(10) 1041-1047 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR05060
Submitted: 28 February 2005  Accepted: 20 June 2005   Published: 25 October 2005

Abstract

A considerable portion of the phosphorus (P) fertilisers applied in agriculture remains in the soil as sorbed P in the forms of various P compounds, termed residual P. Certain grain legume crops may be able to mobilise residual P through root exudates, and thus increase their own growth, and potentially that of subsequent cereal crops. The first objective of this pot experiment was to compare the growth and P uptake of 3 legume crop species with that of wheat grown in a soil with different levels of residual P. Another objective was to determine whether the influence of legumes on subsequent P uptake by wheat was due to legume-induced changes in the rhizosphere, or to the presence of legume roots. White lupin (Lupinus albus L.), field pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown in a soil containing 25.7, 26.4, 30.8, 39.0, or 51.9 mg/kg of bicarbonate-extractable P and sufficient amounts of nitrogen to suppress nodulation and dinitrogen fixation. Differences among the species in root dry mass were much larger than those in shoot dry mass. Faba bean produced the greatest root dry mass. All the legumes exuded carboxylates from their roots, predominantly malate, at all soil P levels. Rhizosphere concentrations of carboxylates were highest for white lupin, followed by field pea and faba bean. All of the investigated legumes enhanced the growth of the subsequently grown wheat, compared with wheat grown after wheat, even at relatively high levels of soil P. The positive effect on growth was not dependent on the incorporation of the legume roots into the soil. The legumes also caused a modest increase in wheat shoot P concentrations, which were higher when roots were incorporated into the soil. Because of the increased growth and tissue P concentrations, wheat shoot P content was 30–50% higher when grown after legumes than when grown after wheat. The study concludes that the legume crops can enhance P uptake of subsequently grown wheat, even at relatively high levels of residual P.

Additional keywords: carboxylates, faba bean, field pea, rhizosphere, root exudation, white lupin.


Acknowledgments

The research was financed by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). We thank Mike Baker of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, for his help in collecting soil, CSBP Futurefarm for soil analysis and Greg Cawthray for HPLC analysis.


References


Ae N, Arihara J, Okada K, Yoshihara T, Johansen C (1990) Phosphorus uptake by pigeon pea and its role in cropping systems of the Indian subcontinent. Science 248, 477–480. open url image1

Allen DG, Jeffery RC (1990) Methods of analysis of phosphorus in Western Australian soils. Chemistry Centre of Western Australia, Report on Investigation No.37, Perth, W. Aust.

Amrani M, Westfall DG, Moughli L (2001) Phosphorus management in continuous wheat and wheat–legume rotations. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 59, 19–27.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Barber, SA (1995). ‘Soil nutrient bioavailability: a mechanistic approach.’ (John Wiley and Sons: New York)

Barrow NJ (1980) Evaluation and utilisation of residual phosphorus in soils. In ‘The role of phosphorus in agriculture’. (Eds FE Khasawneh, EC Sample, EJ Kamprath) pp. 339–359. (American Society of Agronomy: Madison, WI)

Barrow NJ (1999) The four laws of soil chemistry: the Leeper lecture 1998. Australian Journal of Soil Research 37, 787–829.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Birch HF (1961) Phosphorus transformations during plant decomposition. Plant and Soil 15, 347–366.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Black CA (1994) Residual effects. ‘Soil fertility evaluation and control’. (Ed. CA Black) pp. 519–572. (Lewis Publisher: London)

Bolland MDA (1992) Residual value of superphosphate for wheat and lupin grain production on uniform yellow sandplain soil. Fertilizer Research 31, 331–340.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Bolland MDA (1993) Residual value of superphosphate and Queensland rock phosphate measured using yields of serradella, burr medic, and subterranean clover grown in rotation with wheat and bicarbonate extractable soil phosphorus. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 24, 1243–1269. open url image1

Bolland MDA, Gilkes RJ (1998) The chemistry and agronomic effectiveness of phosphate fertilisers. Journal of Crop Production 1, 139–163.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Cawthray GR (2003) An improved reversed-phase liquid chromatography method for the analysis of low-molecular mass organic acids in plant root exudates. Journal of Chromatography, A 1011, 233–240.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Colwell JD (1963) The estimation of phosphorus fertilisers requirements of wheat in southern New South Wales by soil analysis. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 3, 190–198.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Eghball B, Sander DH, Skopp J (1990) Diffusion, adsorption and predicted longevity of banded phosphorus fertiliser in three soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 54, 1161–1165. open url image1

Föhse D, Claassen N, Jungk A (1988) Phosphorus efficiency of plants. 1. External and internal P requirement and P uptake efficiency of different plant species. Plant and Soil 110, 101–109.
Crossref |
open url image1

Gardner WK, Barber DA, Pabery KG (1983) The acquisition of phosphorus by Lupinus albus L. III. The probable mechanism by which phosphorus movement in the soil/root interface is enchanced. Plant and Soil 70, 107–124. open url image1

Gerke J (1992) Phosphate, iron and aluminium in the soil solution of three different soils in relation to varying concentrations of citric acid. Zeitschrift für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde 155, 339–343. open url image1

Gourley CJP, Allan DL, Russele MP (1993) Defining phosphorus efficiency in plants. Plant and Soil 155–156, 29–37.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Griswold BL, Humoller FL, Mclyntyre AR (1951) Inorganic phosphates and phosphate esters in tissue extracts. Analytical Chemistry 23, 192–194.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hafner H, George E, Bationo A, Marschner H (1993) Effect of crop residue on root growth and phosphorus acquisition of pearl millet in an acid sandy soil in Niger. Plant and Soil 150, 117–127.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Halvorson AD, Black AL (1985) Long term dry land crop responses to residual phosphorus fertilisers. Soil Science Society of America Journal 49, 928–933. open url image1

Hocking PJ, Randall PJ (2001) Better growth and phosphorus nutrition of sorghum and wheat following organic acid secreting crops. ‘Plant nutrition—food security and sustainability of agro-ecosystems’. (Eds WJ Horst, MK Schenk, A Bürkert, N Classen, H Flessa, WB Frommer, H Goldbach, HW Olfs, V Römheld, B Sattelmacher, U Schmidhalter, S Schubert, NV Wirén, L Wittenmayer) pp. 548–549. (Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands)

Horst WJ, Kamh M, Jibrin JM, Chude VO (2001) Agronomic measures for increasing P availability to crops. Plant and Soil 237, 211–223.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Jones DL, Dennis PG, Owen AG, Hees PAW (2003) Organic acid behavior in soils—misconceptions and knowledge gaps. Plant and Soil 248, 31–41.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Kamh M, Horst WJ, Am F, Mostafa H, Maier P (1999) Mobilisation of soil and fertiliser phosphate by cover crops. Plant and Soil 211, 19–27.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Keerthisinghe G, Hocking PJ, Ryan PR, Delhaize E (1998) Effect of phosphorus supply on the formation and function of proteoid roots of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.). Plant, Cell and Environment 21, 467–478.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Lambers, H , Chapin, FS ,  and  Pons, TL (1998). ‘Plant physiological ecology.’ (Springer-Verlag: New York)

MacNish GC (1980) Management of cereals for control of take-all. Journal of Agriculture, Western Australia 21, 48–51. open url image1

McArthur, WM (1991). ‘Reference soils of south-western Australia.’ (Department of Agriculture, Western Australia: Perth, W. Aust.)

McPharlin LR, Jeffery RC, Weissberg R (1994) Determination of the residual value for phosphate and soil test phosphorus calibration for carrots on a Karrakatta sand. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 25, 489–500. open url image1

Nuruzzaman M, Lambers H, Bolland MDA, Veneklaas EJ (2005) Phosphorus benefits of different legume crops to subsequent wheat grown in different soils of Western Australia. Plant and Soil 271, 175–187.
Crossref |
open url image1

Parfitt RL, Childs CW (1988) Estimation of forms of Fe and Al: a review, and analysis of contrasting soils by dissolution and Moessbauer methods. Australian Journal of Soil Research 26, 121–144.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Payne, R , Murry, D , Harding, S , Baird, D , Soutar, D ,  and  Lane, P (2002). ‘GenStat for Windows.’ (VSN International: Oxford, UK)

Peoples MB, Herridge DF, Land JK (1995) Biological nitrogen fixation: an efficient source of nitrogen for sustainable agriculture production. Plant and Soil 174, 3–28.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Raimbault T, Vyn BA (1992) Crop rotation and tillage effects on corn growth and soil structural stability. Agronomy Journal 83, 979–985. open url image1

Regan K, White P (2003) 2003 Pulses. ‘Proceedings of Agribusiness Crop Updates 2003’. (Ed.  K Regan , P White ) pp. 5–10. (Department of Agriculture, Western Australia: Perth, W. Aust.)


Sahrawat KL, Sika M (2002) Direct and residual phosphorus effects on soil test values and their relationships with grain yield and phosphorus uptake of upland rice on an ultisol. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 33, 321–332.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Sample EC, Soper RJ, Racz GJ (1980) Reactions of phosphate fertilisers in soils. ‘The role of phosphorus in agriculture’. (Eds FE Khasawneh, EC Sample, EJ Kamprath) pp. 263–310. (American Society of Agronomy: Madison, WI)

Siddique KHM, Sykes J (1997) Pulse production in Australia: past, present and future. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 37, 103–111.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Veneklaas EJ, Stevens J, Cawthray GR, Turner S, Grigg AM, Lambers H (2003) Chickpea and white lupin rhizosphere carboxylates vary with soil properties and enhance phosphorus uptake. Plant and Soil 248, 187–197.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Williams, CH ,  and  Raupach, M (1983). ‘Soils: an Australian view point.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne, Vic.)

Wouterlood M, Cawthray GR, Scanlon TT, Lambers H, Veneklaas EJ (2004) Carboxylate concentrations in the rhizosphere of lateral roots of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) increase during plant development, but are not correlated with phosphorus status of soil or plants. New Phytologist 162, 745–753.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1