How do soil P tests, plant yield and P acquisition by Lotus tenuis plants reflect the availability of added P from different phosphate sources

Abstract

The relative effectiveness (RE) of each one of three different sources of P—P in solution (Psol), triple superphosphate (TSP) and phosphate rock (PR)—for reflecting the availability of P in a P-deficient soil were assessed by measuring in Lotus tenuis variables associated with growth, organ morphology, and plant tissue P-content together with the amounts of P extracts from soil by two of the currently used soil-P tests—Bray I and Olsen. A hyperbolic equation was used to fit the response curves of each one of those plant variables to added-P. The ratio between the shapes of paired response curves of any P-sources was used to compute the RE and substitution rate (K) of one source relative to the other. More P was needed from TSP and PR compared to Psol-100% soluble P-source. On the average P applications as TSP relative to Psol and PR relative to TSP were only 68 and 63% effective respectively for plant growth. Plant roots were more sensitive than soil-P tests to detect shifts in P-availability from different P-sources. Because soil tests are commonly used to estimate the current P status in soil in order to calculate the optimum application levels of fertilizer P for a crop or pasture, these results would have practical agronomical consequences if reproduced in other cultivated species because they show that the response curve of a plant species as a function of added P and soil test might differ among fertilizer types, measured plant variables, and the test used to measure P availability in the soil.