Re-evaluation of the yield response to phosphorus fertilization based on meta-analyses of long-term field experiments

Uwe Buczko,Edgar Peiter,Thomas Reitz,Kerstin Panten,Ines Merbach,Michael Van Laak,Sabine Von Tucher,Wolfgang Gans,Bettina Eichler-Löbermann,Heide Spiegel

doi:10.1007/s13280-017-0971-1

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) fertilizer recommendations in most European countries are based on plant-available soil P contents and long-term field experiments. Site-specific conditions are often neglected, resulting in excessive P fertilizer applications. P fertilization experiments including relevant site and soil parameters were evaluated in order to analyze the yield response. The database comprises about 2000 datasets from 30 field experiments from Germany and Austria. Statistical evaluations using a classification and regression tree approach, and multiple linear regression analysis indicate that besides plant-available soil P content, soil texture and soil organic matter content have a large influence on the effectiveness of P fertilization. This study methodology can be a basis for modification and specification of existing P fertilization recommendations and thus contribute to mitigate environmental impacts of P fertilization.

Highlights

Phosphorus (P) is one of the major macronutrients for plant growth and adequate P fertilization is essential to attain optimum yields (Smil 2000)
P fertilizer recommendations are based on the expected nutrient uptake by crops and the plantavailable P content in the soil (Jordan-Meille et al 2012)
All field experiments focused on the effect of P fertilization on yields and are one-factorial fertilization trials with application rates ranging between 10 and 210 kg P ha-1 yea-1, i.e., 30–2000% of P export by crops (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Phosphorus (P) is one of the major macronutrients for plant growth and adequate P fertilization is essential to attain optimum yields (Smil 2000). Plant-available P contents are categorized into several classes (in Germany and many other countries five classes), which are interpreted in terms of nutrient supply These calibrations are mostly based on long-term fertilization trials (Kuchenbuch and Buczko 2011). The database used for the calibration step is mostly not accessible in the international literature, and even in countries which use the same extraction procedure, the boundaries of the nutrient availability classes may diverge considerably (Jordan-Meille et al 2012) This holds true even for various federal states of Germany (Romer 2015)

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