Phosphorus solubility and dynamics in a tropical soil under sources derived from wastewater and sewage sludge

Abstract

Conventional phosphate fertilizers are usually highly water-soluble and rapidly solubilize when moistened by the soil solution. However, if this solubilization is not in alignment with plants demand, P can react with the soil colloidal phase, becoming less available over time. This is more pronounced in acidic, oxidic tropical soils, with high P adsorption capacity, reducing the efficiency of P fertilization. Furthermore, these fertilizers are derived from phosphate rock, a non-renewable resource, generating an environmental impact. To assess these concerns, waste-recycled P sources (struvite, hazenite and AshDec®) were studied for their potential of reducing P fixation by the soil and improving the agronomic efficiency of the P fertilization. In our work, we compared the solubilization dynamics of struvite, hazenite, AshDec® to triple superphosphate (TSP) in a sandy clay loam Ferralsol, as well as their effect on solution pH and on soil P pools (labile, moderately-labile and non-labile) via an incubation experiment. Leaching columns containing 50 g of soil with surface application of 100 mg per column (mg col−1) of P from each selected fertilizer and one control (nil-P) were evaluated for 60 days. Daily leachate samples from the column were analyzed for P content and pH. Soil was stratified in the end and submitted to P fractionation. All results were analyzed considering p < 0.05. Our findings showed that TSP and struvite promoted an acid P release reaction (reaching pHs of 4.3 and 5.5 respectively), while AshDec® and hazenite reaction was alkaline (reaching pHs of 8.4 and 8.5 respectively). Furthermore, TSP promoted the highest P release among all sources in 60 days (52.8 mg col−1) and showed rapid release dynamic in the beginning, while struvite and hazenite showed late release dynamics and lower total leached P (29.7 and 15.5 mg col−1 P respectively). In contrast, no P-release was detected in the leachate of the AshDec® over the whole trial period. Struvite promoted the highest soil labile P concentration (7938 mg kg−1), followed by hazenite (5877 mg kg−1) and AshDec® (4468 mg kg−1), all higher than TSP (3821 mg kg−1), while AshDec® showed high moderately-labile P (9214 mg kg−1), reaffirming its delayed release potential.