Abstract
Under arid and semi-arid conditions, direct application of phosphate rock (PR) as a source of phosphorus (P) for crop production is likely influenced by agricultural practices and soil properties. Different approaches could be used to improve the agronomic efficiency of low-grade PR over a wider range of soils and crops. In this study, biological, physical, and chemical treatments of low-grade Moroccan PR were investigated and compared through agronomic trials on faba bean grown under alkaline soil conditions. The physical treatment was based on blending PR with triple superphosphate (TSP) at 75:25 and 50:50 ratios, the biological treatments involved co-application of PR with compost at 50:50 ratio and phospho-compost elaborated from PR (20%), sewage sludge (46%), and wheat residues (34%), while the chemical treatment was obtained by a 30% acidulation of PR by phosphoric acid. Control treatments consisting of zero P application (control), PR alone, and TSP alone were considered to assess the effectiveness of the abovementioned techniques to improve PR agronomic efficiency. A pot experiment was conducted in sandy soil (Jorf Lasfar, central Morocco) for 60 days in a completely randomized design considering eight treatments. All treatments, except the control, were amended with 52 mg kg−1 of P from different PR-based fertilizers before sowing. At the flowering stage (60-day-old plants), results indicated that all PR treatments significantly improved plant growth, root nodulation, and nutrient uptake compared to the control. The relative agronomic efficiency of pretreated PR was significantly higher with phospho-compost treatment (86%) than the partially acidulated PR (78%) or the PR/TSP blend 50:50 (64%). Likewise, P uptake, P use efficiency, number of root nodules, and N uptake all were improved under PR treatments. Our finding revealed that the biological technique based on phospho-compost yielded better compared to chemical and physical treatments.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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The authors sincerely thank the Office Chérifien des Phosphates for supporting this study (Research & Development Center, OCP-Group, Morocco).
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Mohamed Chtouki, Adnane Bargaz, and Youssef Zeroual. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mohamed Chtouki, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Chtouki, M., Bargaz, A., Lyamlouli, K. et al. A phospho-compost biological-based approach increases phosphate rock agronomic efficiency in faba bean as compared to chemical and physical treatments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 74012–74023 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21087-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21087-z