The long term fate of copper fertilizer applied to a lateritic sandy soil in Western Australia

Abstract

A soil copper fractionation was carried out on soils sampled from plots in a long-term copper fertilizer trial on a lateritic sandy soil in Western Australia. At copper application rates up to 8.25 kg copper sulphate ha-1, a high proportion of the applied copper was initially associated with the soil organic matter. During the course of the trial (20 years), a substantial proportion of this copper became redistributed to a residual soil fraction, i.e. the residue remaining after extractions to remove organic matter and iron oxides. However, significant redistribution of copper with time was not detected in plots with a higher rate of copper application (19.25 kg copper sulphate ha-1). The change in distribution of copper at the lower copper application rates appeared to be only partly responsible for a corresponding decrease observed in EDTA-extractable soil copper during the trial. The changes with time in the nature of fertilizer copper applied to this soil are considered to be responsible for the previously observed decline in plant availability of such copper.