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Citric Acid Effect on the Abundance, Size and Composition of Water-Dispersible Soil Colloids and Its Relationship to Soil Phosphorus Desorption: A Case Study

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Abstract

Citric acid exudation by plant roots is often linked to the mobilisation of recalcitrant soil phosphorus (P) for plant nutrition. In this case study, we have explored the effect of citric acid on the abundance, size and composition of water-dispersible soil colloids (WDC) to understand the mineral source of desorbed P and the chemical nature of P-carrying mobilized colloids. After incubation with citric acid, WDC were isolated using a soil particle-size fractionation method consisting of sedimentation, centrifugation and syringe filtration. The size range and composition of WDC was assessed using field-flow fractionation (FFF), combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and UV spectrometry, for in vitro P desorption assay samples under the influence of increasing doses of citric acid. Three sharp and well-defined FFF particle size fractions of WDC containing P (12–23, 23–36 and 36–300 nm), with elution times matching carbon (C) peaks and offset from Fe, Al and Si fractions. The concentration of soluble or WDC-associated P, C, Fe, Al and Si increased in response to increasing citric acid doses. Silica colloids were only detected using syringe filtration below 5 µm. The Si, Fe and Al-containing fine colloid fractions (< 600 nm) were positively correlated with P (de)sorption parameters measured by diffusive gradient in thin films in previous work. The P desorbed by citric acid originated predominantly from the disaggregation of Fe and Al oxides and silicate clays. The citric acid effect on mobilizing organic P carrying WDC fractions may increase soil organic P cycling and availability to plants.

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Abbreviations

P i :

Inorganic phosphorus

P o :

Organic phosphorus measured as the difference between total and inorganic P

DGT :

Diffusive gradients in thin films using a ferrihydrite containing gel as a P binding layer

DET :

Diffusive equilibration in thin films (same DGT setup without the binding layer)

DIFS :

“DGT-induced fluxes in soils and sediments” model

P DET (mg l −1 ) :

Pore water (dissolved) P concentration determined using DET

P DGT (mg l −1 ) :

DGT measured time averaged soil solution P concentration at the surface of DGT device

P E :

Effective P concentration – DGT estimated soil solution P + labile P concentration from the solid phase.

P Olsen (mg kg −1 ) :

Phosphorus concentration (solid phase) measured using NaHCO3 extraction

k -1 (s −1 ) :

Desorption rate constant

k 1 (s −1 ) :

Sorption rate constant

K dl (cm 3 g −1 ) :

Equilibrium distribution coefficient between solid phase and soil solution

R :

Ratio of PDGT to PDET

R diff :

Ratio of PDGT to PE in the case where there is no P resupply from the solid phase, estimated using DIFS for diffusion only case

T c (s) :

Response time of (de)sorption process

WDC :

Water-dispersible colloids

FFF :

Field-flow fractionation

ICP-MS :

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

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Funding

This work was performed with financial support of the Organic Phosphorus Utilisation in Soils (OPUS) project, funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) responsive mode grant (BB/K018167/1) in the UK to explore cropping strategies to target the use of recalcitrant soil Po. We thank the OPUS team for the important work leading to this manuscript, especially Prof. Hao Zhang, Dr. Courtney D. Giles, Dr. Tegan Darch, Dr. Marc Stutter, Dr. Timothy S. George, Dr. Charles Shand, Dr. David Lumsdon, Patricia Cooper, Renate Wendler, Dr. Lawrie Brown, Dr. Martin Blackwell and Dr. Catherine Wearing. The first author received financial support from Sultan Qaboos University through the projects RF/AGR/SWAE/18/01 and IG/AGR/SWAE/19/02, as well as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a renewed research stay fellowship. The authors appreciate the additional in-kind support from SQU, Oman.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soils, Water and Agricultural Engineering, CAMS, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-khod 123, PO Box 34, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

    Daniel Menezes-Blackburn

  2. Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

    Roland Bol, Erwin Klumpp & Anna Missong

  3. Central Institute for Engineering, Electronics and Analytics, Analytics (ZEA-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

    Volker Nischwitz

  4. Lancaster University: Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Philip M. Haygarth

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  1. Daniel Menezes-Blackburn
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  2. Roland Bol
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  4. Anna Missong
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Correspondence to Daniel Menezes-Blackburn.

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Menezes-Blackburn, D., Bol, R., Klumpp, E. et al. Citric Acid Effect on the Abundance, Size and Composition of Water-Dispersible Soil Colloids and Its Relationship to Soil Phosphorus Desorption: A Case Study. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 21, 2436–2446 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00534-9

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