Long-term alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) establishment could alleviate phosphorus limitation induced by nitrogen deposition in the carbonate soil

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) limitation is a widespread problem of primary production in dryland submitted to persistent nitrogen (N) deposition. The legume alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), which can fix N2, might potentially strengthen P limitation in dryland ecosystems and is widely distributed as forage. However, there is still unclear how alfalfa grassland mobilizes the soil P to meet its demand. In this experiment, alfalfa introduction was used for long-term revegetation to evaluate the P uptake of plants from deep soil and assess the P limitation induced by N deposition compared with fallow. Our results showed that alfalfa introduction increased the soil P storage significantly at 0–2.4 m soil depth (+0.74 Mg ha−1), whereas it decreased at 2.4–4.8 m soil depth (−0.21 Mg ha−1) after 15-year establishment. Alfalfa establishment increased soil organic P concentration (180.9 mg kg−1 vs. 67.2 mg kg−1) and its relative contribution to total P (19.64% vs. 8.08%) at 0–4.8 m. Alfalfa establishment also increased the concentration and proportion of labile and intermediate P fractions at 0–4.8 m (9.12 mg kg−1 vs. 6.87 mg kg−1, 1.12% vs. 0.98%; 16.06 mg kg−1 vs. 8.39 mg kg−1, 1.69% vs. 1.17%). Alfalfa introduction decreased the concentrated HCl-Pi (250.66 mg kg−1 vs. 229.32 mg kg−1, 36.81% vs. 28.91%) in 2.4–4.8 m soil depth. These results indicated that the deep root system of alfalfa grassland could promote the P mobilization from deep to shallow soil. The concentrated HCl-Pi may be the main potential P source of alfalfa from 2.4–4.8 m to 0–2.4 m of soil depth, and long-term establishment of alfalfa can alleviate P limitation caused by N deposition in carbonate soil. Our results suggested that species with deep roots (such as alfalfa) could be selected as an economical way to mitigate nitrogen deposition in drylands.