Soil phosphorus sorption and availability as a function of high phosphorus fertilizer additions

Abstract

Abstract After a 3‐months equilibration of soil with phosphorus (P) (up to four times the respective P sorption capacity), equilibrium P concentration (EPCo), standard P requirement (SPR), P sorption index (SI), and P availability by Bray I, Olsen, water and iron‐oxide paper strip methods were determined on three soils of the Latium region of Italy, widely ranging in their affinity for P. Soil P addition increased EPCo and availability P content and decreased SPR and SI values for all soils with differences between soil types a ffinction of P sorption maximum. The tractional increase of available NaHCO3‐P with added P, i.e. P availability index (F) was 0.486 for the soil with the lowest P sorption maximum, 0.217 for the soil with the highest P sorption maximum, and 0.369 for the third soil presenting an intermediate P sorption (r = 0.997; P<0.01). The results indicate that soil type, in addition to the amount of P added, will determine the potential for a soil to release P to runoff.