Soil Phosphorus Effects on Forage Harvested and Nitrogen Fixation on Canadian Organic Dairy Farms

Abstract

Declining soil‐test phosphorus (STP) levels on eastern Canadian organic dairy farms is a concern because of potential negative impacts on forage growth and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). This study examined the relationship between STP, forage productivity, and BNF on organic or transitional‐organic dairy farms in Ontario (ON) and Nova Scotia (NS). More than two‐thirds of 28 legume–grass mixed forage fields in the study were low in available P by provincial soil‐test guidelines. Averaged across all fields over 2 yr, forage legume proportion was 46%, forage harvested 5.9 Mg ha–1, BNF 64 kg ha–1, and N harvested 153 kg N ha–1. Forage tissue P concentrations were clearly correlated with STP in the low soil‐test categories (<10 mg Olsen P kg–1 of soil in ON; <30 mg Mehlich‐3 P kg–1 of soil in NS), above which there was little response. Inclusion of soil total P or organic P did not improve the fit of regressions. However, STP explained a very small fraction of variation in forage harvested and BNF. Ninety percent of tissue P concentrations were above 2 g P kg–1 of tissue, a frequently cited critical minimum, and the only apparently P deficient forage crops were on fields that received no manures or fertilizers for more than 5 yr. In the term of this study, low STP was apparently not having a significant impact on forage harvested or BNF on the majority of eastern Canadian organic dairy farms. This result may not apply to seedling‐year forages or other crops.