The comparative significance and utility of the Freundlich and Langmuir parameters for characterizing sorption and plant availability of phosphate in soils

Abstract

In studies using 62 Australian and English soils, the two parameters of the Freundlich sorption equation were compared with phosphate sorption capacity, calculated from the Langmuir 'two-surface' equation, and sorptivity and affinity indices calculated from the simple Langmuir equation applied to an isotherm concentration range of 0-5µg phosphorus/ml. The Freundlich extensive parameter was most highly correlated with sorptivity, and to a decreasing extent with sorption capacity and affinity. It appears to be fundamentally a sorptivity index which reflects the sorption capacity more than the affinity component of sorption, although greatly underestimating sorption capacity. The reciprocal of the Freundlich exponent proved to be an affinity parameter and was most useful in this role on soils of similar sorption capacity. However, conflicting results on different groups of soils showed that this parameter was less distinctive in its role than the others. Studies on two different groups of soils showed that the sorptivity and affinity parameters from the Langmuir equation accounted for more of the variance in plant uptake of labile phosphate than the Freundlich parameters.