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Rapid whole-plant bioassay for phosphorus phytoavailability in soils

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Abstract

Chemical P extraction from soils is an indirect and frequently questionable index for P availability. To monitor the dynamics of P availability in soils more directly following the application of P fertilizer, manure or sludge, a rapid, whole-plant bioassay was developed using tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. var.pekinensis) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Plant P extracted in 0.1 M H2SO4 (P i ) and total P (P t ) concentration or content in stem, leaves or whole shoots were highly correlated (P < 0.01) with P fertilizer rates or water-soluble (WSP) or Olsen P in various soils, over wide ranges of soil P status. The whole-plant P i content was found to be as informative as the more complicated indices of P t or P i concentration. The assay was used to compare availability of fertilizer-P and sewage-sludge-P after incorporation into alluvial soil during 1–100 days of incubation. While both soil and plant indices had shown that fertilizer-P was more highly available than sewage-sludge-P in each period, the bioassay was much more sensitive than the Olsen-P or WSP soil indices in showing P fixation and decrease of availability during incubation time. The bioassay is sufficiently rapid (5–12 days) to allow a study of short-term changes in soil-P availability following incorporation of various P additives, and it is applicable to a very wide range of P availability values (6–535 mg Olsen-P kg−1), extending from lower than desired for crop production to higher than permitted from an environmental standpoint.

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Abbreviations

DW:

deionized water

NS:

nutrition solution

OM:

organic matter

P i :

inorganic phosphate

P t :

total phosphate

WSP:

water-soluble phosphorus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Xiao-Lan Huang, Yona Chen & Moshe Shenker

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  1. Xiao-Lan Huang
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  2. Yona Chen
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  3. Moshe Shenker
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Correspondence to Xiao-Lan Huang.

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Huang, XL., Chen, Y. & Shenker, M. Rapid whole-plant bioassay for phosphorus phytoavailability in soils. Plant Soil 271, 365–376 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-3551-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-3551-7

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