Soil phosphorus pools in the detritusphere of plant residues with different C/P ratio—influence of drying and rewetting

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of drying and rewetting (DRW) on phosphorus (P) pools in the detritusphere, the soil adjacent to plant residues. Two plant residues differing in their potential to release P during decomposition were used: mature barley straw, C/P 255 or young faba bean, C/P 38. Residues were placed between two PVC caps filled with soil at 50% water-holding capacity with open ends covered by fine mesh onto which the residues were placed. The open ends of the two PVC caps were pressed together with residues in between. For the unamended controls, no residues were placed between the meshes. After 2 weeks incubation, the soil was separated from the residues and then either dried and kept dry for 2 weeks followed by rapid rewetting to 50% water-holding capacity (WHC) rewetting (RW) or maintained at 50% of WHC constantly moist (CM). Bioavailable P pools (readily available P pools: CaCl2- and anion exchange-P; P bound to soil particles: citrate- and HCl-P; acid phosphomonoesterase- and microbial-P) were measured in dry soil and 1, 7, and 14 days after rewetting. Rewetting of dry soils induced a respiration flush on the first day after which respiration rates declined to those in CM. Compared to the unamended soil, the flush was about 75% higher with barley and more than twofold higher with faba bean. P pools were 3–20-fold higher with faba bean than with barley or in the control. At the end of the dry period, most P pools were higher in dry soil compared to CM. Rewetting had little effect on P pools 1, 7, and 14 days after rewetting compared to CM. To investigate if rewetting induced a short pulse of available P, a second experiment was carried out. As in the first experiment, faba bean detritusphere soil and control were generated and then dried or kept at 50% WHC for 2 weeks. Before rewetting, anion exchange membranes (AEM) were placed in the soil which were removed one, 2 or 4 days after rewetting. The P concentration on the AEM was more than threefold higher with faba bean than the control. One day after rewetting, the P concentration on the AEM with faba bean was about threefold higher in RW than in CM, but did not differ between RW and CM in the control. Four days after rewetting, nearly all P pools with faba bean were 10–30% lower in RW than in CM, except citrate-P which was about 5% higher in RW. We conclude that rewetting induces a short pulse of available P if the P pool concentration is high as in the detritusphere of faba bean. If P is removed from the soil (by binding to AEM or uptake by plants), rewetting can induce depletion of P pools compared to CM.