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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Insights into 33phosphorus utilisation from Fe- and Al-hydroxides in Luvisol and Ferralsol subsoils

Maximilian Koch https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2057-6491 A E , Christopher Guppy B , Wulf Amelung A C , Stella Gypser D , Roland Bol A , Sabine Seidel C and Nina Siebers A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute for Bio- and Geosciences – IBG-3, Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.

B School of Environmental and Rural Science, UNE Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

C University of Bonn, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation – Soil Science and Soil Ecology, 53115 Bonn, Germany.

D Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Soil Protection and Recultivation, 03046 Cottbus, Germany.

E Corresponding author. Email: ma.koch@fz-juelich.de

Soil Research 57(5) 447-458 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR18223
Submitted: 31 July 2018  Accepted: 26 March 2019   Published: 10 July 2019

Abstract

There is currently relatively little available information on subsoil phosphorus (P) use for crop production as a function of soil order. In this study, a rhizobox experiment was performed using subsoils of two reference soil groups, an Orthic Ferralsol and a Haplic Luvisol. To evaluate the immediate P uptake by wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from different subsoil P pools during 14 days of growth, subsoil bands were spiked with KH2PO4 solution associated to Fe-hydroxide (33P-Fe), to Al-hydroxide (33P-Al), in free form (33P-OrthoP), or in trace amounts without any additional 31P (33P-NoP). At the beginning of the experiment, the soil water content was set at 75% of water-holding capacity, corresponding to an initial soil matric potential of −12 ± 1 kPa. During plant growth, soil moisture decreased in both soils, but soil matric potentials in both soils did not drop below field capacity (−33 kPa; pF 2.5). The shoot dry weights of the Ferralsol were 1.2 to 1.8 times those of the Luvisol. Despite elevated soil P availability in the Luvisol, shoot P concentrations did not differ between the two soils. The amount of 33P taken up by the shoots from the oxide phases was 15% to 40% greater in the Ferralsol treatments than in those in the Luvisol treatments. It was concluded that the more favourable physical soil conditions facilitated 33P uptake from both oxidic phases from the Ferralsol subsoil relative to the Luvisol subsoil, despite better P phytoavailability in the latter.

Additional keywords: 33P radiotracer, digital autoradiography, potentiometric water content, subsoil P banding, subsoil P supply.


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