Abstract
In calcareous soil, the significant portion of applied phosphorus (P) fertilizers is adsorbed on the calcite surface and becomes unavailable to plants. Addition of organic amendments with chemical fertilizers can be helpful in releasing the absorbed nutrients from these surfaces. To check out this problem, a field experiment was conducted for two years to determine the effect of P fertilizers and humic acid (HA) in enhancing P availability in soil and their ultimate effect on growth, yield and P uptake of wheat in calcareous soils. The experiment was comprised of five levels of P (0, 45, 67.5, 90 and 112.5 kg P2O5 ha−1) as a single superphosphate (SSP) and 2 levels of locally produced humic acid (with and without HA) arranged in a two factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Wheat plant height, spike length, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, grain, straw and biological yield were significantly improved by the addition of HA with SSP. Very often, the performance of 67.5 kg P2O5 ha−1 with HA were either similar or better than 90 or even 112.5 kg P2O5 ha−1 applied without HA. Post-harvest soil organic matter, AB-DTPA extractable and water-soluble P, plant P concentration and its uptake were also significantly improved by the addition of HA with SSP compared to sole SSP application. It was evident that P efficiency could be increased with HA addition and it has the potential to improve crop yield and plants P uptake in calcareous soils.
Highlights
Soil fertility and crop productivity are closely related to three main components of soil ecosystems: the bio-available soil nutrients, soil microbiota and organic matter content [1,2,3,4,5]
When average across the humic acid (HA) levels, the application of P levels at 90 kg P2 O5 ha−1 produced maximum taller plants of height 88 cm and the decrease in plant height at a higher level of P indicates that 90 kg P2 O5 ha−1 is the optimum dose in the given soil conditions
P of 8.68 mg kg−1 was recorded in treatments applied with 112.5 kg P2 O5 ha−1 that was statistically higher than the phosphorous content of other treatments
Summary
Soil fertility and crop productivity are closely related to three main components of soil ecosystems: the bio-available soil nutrients, soil microbiota and organic matter content [1,2,3,4,5]. Phosphorus is 2nd most yield limiting nutrient after nitrogen in agricultural production across the world [6,7]. Application of phosphatic fertilizers in a balanced amount and at the correct time with good application techniques and management methods has good impacts on crop yield. Responses to fertilization can be species and variety-dependent, which greatly influences nutrient accumulation and utilization in the plant [8,9]. Organic Fertilizer addition to soil increases risk of xenobiotic contamination [10,11,12,13]
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