The Effect of Phosphate Rocks on Spring Barley Shoot Yield in a Pot Trial

Abstract

Depending on their origin, sedimentary phosphate rocks (PRs) may differ in their P solubility, and, as a consequence, in their agronomic effectiveness. The effect of six phosphate rocks (PR) - originating from Algeria (ALG), North Florida (FLO), North Carolina (NCA), Senegal (SEN) Morocco (MOR) and Hyperphosphate (HYP) with various P solubility (evaluated by 2% formic acid, 2% citric acid, and neutral ammonium citrate) - as well as single superphosphate (SSP) and superphosphate + lime (SSP + Ca) (each P source on 4 P levels, with doses of 0, 100, 400 and 1600 mg P 2 O 5 ·kg -1 soil) on the shoot yield of tillering stage spring barley, soil available P (i.e. H 2 O, Olsen, Bray1, Lakanen-Erviö (LE) and ammonium lactate (AL) extractable P contents) were studied in pot experiments set up with acidic sandy soil (Nyírlugos, Hungary) and acidic clay loam soil (Ragály, Hungary), both with low P supplies. The average spring barley shoot yield at the beginning of shooting was 95% higher on the colloid-rich acidic (pH KCl : 4.5) clay loam soil than on the colloid-poor acidic (pH KCl : 3.8) sandy soil. The differences in the solubility of phosphate rocks showed close correlation to the differences in P responses. On both soils, the correlation between total PR-P added and P responses in spring barley shoot yield was much weaker than that between neutral ammonium citrate soluble PR-P added and P responses in spring barley shoot yield. When phosphate rocks were applied as P sources, the comparison of soil test P methods showed a different picture on the two soils. In the case of the acidic sandy soil (Nyírlugos), the strongly acid LE-P (r² = 0.83) and AL-P (r² =0.74) tests gave the highest correlation coefficients with spring barley responses to P, while on the acidic clay loam soil (Ragály) these were achieved by the Olsen-P (r² = 0.88) and Bray1-P (r² =0.88) methods.