Abstract
Two long-term (11 and 12 y) field experiments in south-western Australia are described that measured the relative effectiveness of three rock phosphate fertilizers (C-grade ore, Calciphos and Queensland (Duchess) rock phosphate), single, double and triple superphosphate. The experiments were on established subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) — based pasture that had received large, yearly, applications of single superphosphate for many years before the experiments began so that in the first year the nil phosphorus (P) treatment produced 80 to 90% of the maximum yield. The experiments were conducted using a rotation of one year cereal crop (oats,Avena sativa at one site, and barley,Hordeum vulgare, at the other): 2 y pasture, a typical rotation on farms in the region. Five levels of each P fertilizer were applied every third year with the crop. Grain yield of cereals, P content of grain, pasture yield, and bicarbonate-soluble P extracted from the soil (available P) were used to estimate fertilizer effectiveness values.
The three superphosphate fertilizers had identical values of fertilizer effectiveness. Superphosphate was always the most effective fertilizer for producing grain. The rock phosphate fertilizers were one-seventh to one-half as effective per kg P as superphosphate when assessed on the yield or P content (P concentration × yield) of grain within each cropping year. Bicarbonate-extractable soil P values demonstrated that superphosphate was two to fifteen times as effective as the rock phosphate fertilizers. The relationship between grain yield and P content in grain (i.e. the internal efficiency of P use curve) was similar for the different P fertilizers. Thus for all P fertilizers yield was not limited by other factors as it varied solely in response to the P content, which in turn presumably depended on the P supply from the fertilizers.
The relative agronomic effectiveness of rock phosphates is greater for marginally P deficient soils than for highly P deficient soils but rock phosphate remains less effective than superphosphate. We conclude that the rock phosphates studied should not be substituted for superphosphate as maintenance fertilizers for soils in Western Australia that are marginally deficient in P. This result is consistent with the results of many field experiments on highly P deficient soils in south-western Australia. These have shown that a wide variety of rock phosphate fertilizers are much less effective than superphosphate in both the short and long term.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott CA (1983) Australian phosphorus: availability and economic perspectives. In: Costin AB and Williams CH (eds) Phosphorus in Australian, Ch 9, pp 46–49. Canberra, Aust: Aust Nat Univ
Anderson AJ and McLachlan KD (1951) The residual effect of phosphorus on soil fertility and pasture development on acid soils. Aust J Agric Res 2: 377–400
AOAC (1975) ‘Official Methods of Analysis’ 12 edn. Assoc Offic Agric Chem: Washington DC
Beckwith BS (1988) Low solubility phosphate fertilizers. Agric Sci 1: 18–26
Black CA and Scott CO (1956) Fertilizer evaluation 1 Fundamental principles. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 20: 176–179
Bolland MDA and Barrow NJ (1988) Effect of level of application on the relative effectiveness of rock phosphate. Fert Res 15: 181–192
Bolland MDA and Bowden JW (1986) Summary of long-term rock phosphate experiments in south-western Australia. J Aust Instit Agric Sci 52: 227–236
Bolland MDA and Gilkes RJ (1987) How effective are Calciphos and Phospal? Fert Res 12: 229–239
Bolland MDA, Gilkes RJ and D'Antuono (1988) The effectiveness of rock phosphate fertilizers in Australian agriculture: A review. Aust J Exp Agric 28: 655–668
Bolland MDA and Gilkes RJ (1990) Rock phosphates are not effective fertilizers in Western Australian soils: a review of one hundred years of research. Fert Res 22: 79–95
Colwell JD (1963) The estimation of phosphorus fertilizer requirements of wheat in southern New South Wales by soil analysis. Aust J Exp Agric Anim Husb 3: 190–197
Doak BW, Callaher PJ, Evans L and Muller FB (1965) Low temperature calcination of C-grade phosphates from Christmas Island. NZ J Agric Res 8, 15029
Earle DF and McGowan AA (1979) Evaluation and calibration of an automated rising plate meter for estimating dry matter yield of pasture. Aust J Exp Agric Anim Husb 19: 337–343
Gilkes RJ and Palmer B (1979) Calcined Christmas Island C-grade rock phosphate fertilizers: mineralogical properties, reversion and assessment by chemical extraction. Aust J Soil Res 17: 467–481
Hilder EJ (1964) The distribution of plant nutrients by sheep at pasture. Proc Aust Anim Prod 5: 241–248
Hoare J (1980) Phosphate raw materials and fertilizers II A case history of marginal raw materials In: FE Khasawneh, EC Sample and KJ Kamprath (eds) The role of Phosphorus in Agriculture. CH 4, pp 121–128. Am Soc Agron: Madison USA
Hughes JC and Gilkes RJ (1986) The effect of soil properties and level of fertilizer application on the dissolution of Sechura rock phosphate in some soils from Brazil, Colombia, Australia and Nigeria. Aust J Soil Res 24: 219–228
Kanabo IAK and Gilkes RJ (1987) A comparison between plant response and chemical measurement of dissolution of reactive phosphate rock in soils of different pH and phosphorus retention. Aust J Soil Res 25: 451–460
Kanabo IAK and Gilkes RJ (1987) The role of soil pH in the dissolution of phosphate rock fertilizer. Fert Res 12: 165–179
Kanabo IAK and Gilkes RJ (1988) The effects of moisture regime and incubation period on the dissolution of North Carolina phosphate rock in soil. Aust J Soil Res 26: 153–163
Kanabo IAK and Gilkes RJ (1988) The effect of level of phosphate rock application on its dissolution in soil and on bicarbonate-soluble phosphorus. Fert Res 16: 67–85
Kendle M and Stuart A (1977) The Advanced Theory of Statistics Vol 1. Distribution Theory. 4th Edn pp 246–248. Charles Griffen and Co Ltd: London and High Wycombe, GB
Lipsett J and Williams Ch (1970) Evaluation of Christmas Island C-grade phosphate as a fertilizer on some soils in southern New South Wales. Aust J Exp Agric Anim Husb 10: 783–789
Mason MG and Cox WJ (1969) Calcined rock phosphate as a fertilizer for pasture and cereal production in Western Australia. Aust J Exp Agric Anim Husb 9: 99–104
Murphy J and Riley JP (1962) A modified single solution method for determination of phosphate in natural waters. Anal Chim Acta 27: 31–36
Ozanne PG and Shaw TC (1967) Phosphate sorption by soils as a measure of the phosphate requirements for pasture growth. Aust J Agric Res 18: 601–612
Ross GJS (1980) ‘MLP Maximum Likelihood Program’ Rothamsted Exp Stat: Harpenden, UK
Rossiter RC (1964) The effect of phosphate supply on the growth and botanical composition of annual type pasture. Aust J Agric Res 15: 61–76
Sale PWG and Blair GJ (1989) Low solubility phosphate fertilizers for pasture: an alternative prospect. Agric Sci 2: 34–39
Trumble HC and Donald CM (1938) The relation of phosphate to the development of seeded pasture on a podzolized sand. Coun Sci Indust Res Aust Bull No 116
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bolland, M.D.A., Gilkes, R.J. Evaluation of two rock phosphates and a calcined rock phosphate as maintenance fertilizers for crop — pasture rotations in Western Australia. Fertilizer Research 28, 11–24 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048851
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048851