Abstract
Three different parameters of the long term effects of phosphate fertilizers on perennial clover-based pastures were measured over 3–4 years in 27 experiments on acidic soils in an elevated region of eastern Australia. Recovery of fertilizer P was the difference between herbage P uptake in the presence of fertilizer and uptake in its absence, expressed as a % of the amount of P applied in the first year. Residual value was the size of the response to fertilizer P, applied in the first year, expressed as a percentage of the response to freshly applied P in the second and third years. Effectiveness was the product of the values of the Mitscherlich curvature and response parameters for each response curve, and residual effectiveness was relative to initial effectiveness. Soils varied widely in their P sorptivities, and represented Alfisols, Entisols, and Ultisols of basaltic, granitic and sedimentary origin.
Mean P recoveries of 29% in the first year and 49% over 3 years, residual values of 84% in the second year and 60% in the third, and residual effectiveness of 77% in the second year and 47% in the third were high by most standards. Increasing P sorptivity tended to increase fertilizer effectiveness in the first year and residual value in the second year, but it depressed P recovery in the first year and residual effectiveness in later years. The long term effect of increasing P sorptivity on cumulative P recoveries tended to be negative at low to medium rates of fertilizer application and positive at high rates of application. There was a much smaller decline in residual values and effectiveness over the 3 or 4 years than there was in P recovery, and this was attributed to the beneficial effects of P on soil N fertility, via clover N fixation, and the subsequent growth of grasses in the phosphated treatments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arndt W and McIntyre GA (1963) The initial and residual effects of superphosphate and rock phosphate for sorghum on a lateritic red earth. Aust J Agric Res 14: 785–795
Barrow NJ (1973) Relationship between a soil's ability to adsorb phosphate and the residual effectiveness of superphosphate. Aust J Soil Res 11: 57–63
Barrow NJ (1980a) Differences amongst a wide range collection of soils in the rate of reaction with phosphate. Aust J Soil Res 18: 215–224
Barrow NJ (1980b) Evaluation and utilization of residual phosphorus in soils. In the Role of Phosphorus in Agriculture. Amer Soc Agron, Madison, pp 333–359
Barrow NJ and Campbell NA (1972) Methods of measuring residual value of fertilizers. Aust J Exper Agric Anim Husb 12: 502–510
Bolland MDA and Baker MJ (1987) Increases in soil water content decrease the residual value of superphosphate. Aust J Exper Agric 27: 571–578
Gleeson AC and Cullis BR (1987) Residual maximum likelihood estimation (REML) of a neighbour model for field experiments. Biometrics 43: 277–288
Holford ICR (1982) Effects of phosphate sorptivity on long term plant recovery and effectiveness of fertilizer phosphate in soils. Pl Soil 64: 225–236
Holford ICR and Crocker GJ (1988) Efficacy of various soil phosphate tests for predicting phosphate responsiveness and requirements of clover pastures on acidic Tableland soils. Aust J. Soil Res 26: 479–488
Holford ICR and Cullis BR (1985) Effects of phosphate buffer capacity on yield response curvature and fertilizer requirements in relation to soil phosphate tests. Aust J Soil Res 23: 417–427
Holford ICR, Morgan JM, Bradley J and Cullis BR (1985) Yield responsiveness and response curvature as essential criteria for the evaluation and calibration of soil phosphate tests for wheat. Aust J Soil Res 23: 167–180
Larsen S, Gunary D and Sutton CD (1965) The rate of immobilisation of applied phosphate in relation to soil properties. J Soil Sci 16: 141–148
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holford, I.C.R., Crocker, G.J. Residual effects of phosphate fertilizers in relation to phosphate sorptivities of 27 soils. Fertilizer Research 28, 305–314 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054331
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054331