Abstract
Two factorial field experiments were carried out between 2003 and 2018 in the Experimental Stations in Eastern and Western Poland using four crop rotations with winter oilseed rape, winter wheat, maize and spring barley. The initial value of phosphorus (P) in Grabów soil was 69.8 mg P·kg−1 soil and in Baborówko soil it was 111.3 mg P·kg−1 soil (Egner-Riehm Double-Lactate DL). P fertilizer was added annually at 39 kg P·ha−1 under winter oilseed rape, 35 kg P·ha−1 under maize and 31 kg P·ha−1 under wheat and barley using superphosphate and nitrogen (N), which was added at five levels (30–250 kg N·ha−1) per year as ammonium nitrate in addition to controls with no added fertilizer. Through the several years of the experiment, P fertilizer had no effect on crop N use efficiency (NUE) nor crop productivity. There was significant soil P mining particularly in the high-N fertilizer trials causing a reduction in the content of available soil P by up to 35%. This work recommends that, based on soil P analysis, P fertilizer should not be added to high-P soils. This practice may continue uninterrupted for several years (16 in this case) until the excess soil P has been reduced. This mechanism of removal of “legacy” P from soil has major implications in reducing runoff P into the Baltic Sea drainage area and other water bodies.
Highlights
IntroductionNitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most essential nutrients ensuring food production
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most essential nutrients ensuring food production.Both N surplus (Ns) and P surplus (Ps) are involved in vital plant functions such as photosynthesis protein formation, and symbiotic N fixation [1]
Long-term N and P fertilizer experiments over 16 years with winter oilseed rape, winter wheat, maize and spring barley revealed the presence of significant soil P mining causing a reduction in the content of available forms of P but without negative impacts on crop productivity
Summary
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most essential nutrients ensuring food production. Both N and P are involved in vital plant functions such as photosynthesis protein formation, and symbiotic N fixation [1]. N is the most important crop yield-limiting factor in the world [2]. As a main nutrient element, it is needed in a relatively large quantity for the production of proteins, nucleic acids and chlorophyll in plants [3]. N and P are bound within waste organic products and dead organic matter and must be remineralized to release inorganic orthophosphates or dissolved and reduced to inorganic nitrate and ammonia before either element can be absorbed by plants
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