Phosphorus supplying capacity of heavily fertilized soils II. Dry matter yield of successive crops and phosphorus uptake at different temperatures

Abstract

Nine heavily fertilized soils were collected from southern and central Norway. A greenhouse experiment in the phytotron was conducted to evaluate the P supplying capacities of these soils at different temperatures (9, 12 and 18 °C). The crops were grown in succession and the sequence was oat, rye grass (cut twice), oat, rape and oat. Effect of temperature on dry matter (DM) yield and P uptake was more marked up to the fourth crop but the effect varied among crops. The DM yields of oat and rape increased with increasing temperature but the opposite was the case with rye grass. The yield differences among soils at 12 °C were highly significant (p < 0.01) in contrast to 9 and 18 °C. The amount of P taken up by plants in these soils was highest at 18. °C. The P supplying capacity was highest in the soils with higher content of organic P. Generally, the soils of very fine and coarse texture classes failed to supply enough P to crops to avoid P deficiency in the successive crops. Soil P test (P-NH₄-lactate) values in most of the soils increased with increasing temperatures. The highest temperature effect was seen in the Særheim sand soil. Soil P test extractants P-AL, Bray-1 and Colwell-P were used to determine P in the soil after each harvest and the soil P test values were compared with P uptake by crops. Only the P-AL extractant was significantly correlated to cumulative P removal (CPR) by plants in most of the soils. Regression equation was calculated for each soil. The value of removed P per harvest (RPH) varied from 10.33 to 20.87 mg P kg⁻¹ soil. Phosphorus drawdown slope was determined for each soil and the number of consecutive harvests necessary to reduce the P-AL value to a normal level (110 mg P kg⁻¹ soil) was calculated. The drawdown slope varied widely (1.257–2.801) and this reflected the P buffer capacity and the number of crops required to lower the soil test P value to a normal level. The highest drawdown slope was found in the soils with higher P supplying capacities. The Bray-1 extractant was significantly correlated in the soils with higher buffer capacity but the Colwell-P method did not show significant correlation in any of the soils.