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Testing phosphorus availability for maize with DGT in weathered soils amended with organic materials

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Abstract

Aims and background

The phosphorus (P) fertilizer value of organic materials (OM) such as plant residues or manure can be larger than that of mineral fertilizers in weathered soils. Recently, the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique was shown to better predict crop response to applied mineral P fertilizer among soils than established tests. The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential of the DGT technique to predict plant-available P in different soils amended with various qualities of OM.

Methods

In this study, maize was grown in a greenhouse on two Kenyan soils characterized by strong P sorption. Phosphorus was applied at various rates (deficient to adequate) as triple superphosphate (TSP) only, or at one intermediate P dose in a P-substitution trial with four different OM: farmyard manure (FYM) or residues of Tithonia diversifolia each at low or high P content. All soils were amended with adequate amounts of other nutrients. Next to the DGT technique, two established soil P tests (anion exchange membranes (AEM), and Olsen) were performed on incubated soils for all P treatments.

Results

Results show that the relative yield (% of maximum yield) to soil P test values correlated most strongly for DGT measured P concentrations, R2 = 0.74, compared to Olsen (R2 = 0.60) and AEM (R2 = 0.62).

Conclusions

Results of this study demonstrate that DGT relates best with DM yields when soils are amended with a combination of TSP and OM compared to the established soil P tests Olsen and AEM.

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Abbreviations

AEM:

Anion exchange membranes

CDGT:

Time‐averaged concentration in solution at the surface of the DGT device

CLM:

Confidence limits

DGT:

Diffusive gradients in thin films

DM:

Dry matter

FU:

Factor of uncertainty

FYM:

Farmyard manure

ICP‐OES:

Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy

MBL:

Mixed binding layer

OM:

Organic materials

PSI:

P sorption index

RY:

Relative yield

Ti:

Tithonia diversifolia

TSP:

Triple superphosphate

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the collaborators, the technical staff of the Division of Soil and Water Management at K.U.Leuven and the Soil Science Department of Moi University in Chepkoilel, Kenya, who assisted in analyses and collection of the soil samples and organic materials. We also thank dr. Sean Mason for training in the DGT method, Abigael Otinga, for her valuable assistance during the experiments. Laetitia Six acknowledges a PhD fellowship from the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO-Vlaanderen). Part of this research was made possible through the VLIR Institutional University Collaboration programme between Flemish Universities and Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.

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  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Division of Soil and Water Management, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium

    Laetitia Six, Erik Smolders & Roel Merckx

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  1. Laetitia Six
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  2. Erik Smolders
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Correspondence to Laetitia Six.

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Responsible Editor: Bernard Vanlauwe.

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Six, L., Smolders, E. & Merckx, R. Testing phosphorus availability for maize with DGT in weathered soils amended with organic materials. Plant Soil 376, 177–192 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1947-y

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