Abstract
To predict the contribution of soil K fractions of different mobility to K supply of plants, the kinetics of K release from soil was related to the kinetics of K uptake of young sugar beet and wheat plants. For this purpose K release rates from soil were measured by continuously percolating samples of a luvisol with 0.01 M CaCl2 solution and effective diffusion coefficients, De, were determined. Two soil K fractions of different mobility were obtained. De values of the more mobile ‘exchangeable K’ and the less mobile ‘non-exchangeable’ K fraction were found to be 58.9 × 10−9 and 8.2 × 10−9 cm2 s−1, respectively. In a pot experiment, sugar beet and wheat plants were grown, for 15 days and both root growth and K uptake were measured. K uptake kinetics of both crops was determined in a separate experiment using flowing solution culture. To integrate these data quantitatively, the simulation model of Claassen et al. (1986) was applied. Results show that calculated total K uptake agreed closely with real K uptake of the plants. On this basis, 64 and 79% of the K taken up by wheat and sugar beet plants was derived from the rapidly released ‘exchangeable’ and 21–36% from the less mobile ‘non-exchangeable’ soil K fraction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, F 1974 Soil solution. In The Plant Root and Its Environment. Ed. E W Carson. pp 441–481. University Press of Virginia. Charlottesville.
Barber, S A 1984 Soil Nutrient Bioavailability. Wiley, New York. 398 p.
Barraclough, P B and Tinker, P B 1981 The determination of ionic diffusion coefficients in field soils. I. Diffusion co-efficients in sieved soils in relation to water content and bulk density. J. Soil. Sci. 3, 225–236.
Brewster, J L, Bhat, K K S and Nye, P H 1976 The possibility of predicting solute uptake and plant growth response from independently measured soil and plant characteristics. V. The growth and phosphorous uptake of rape in soil at a range of phosphorus concentrations and a comparison of results with the predictions of a simulation model. Plant and Soil 44, 295–328.
Claassen, N and Barber, S A 1974 A method for characterizing the relation between nutrient concentration and flux into roots of intact plants. Plant Physiol. 54, 564–568.
Claassen, N and Barber, S A 1976 Simulation model for nutrient uptake from soil by a growing plant root system. Agron. J. 68, 961–964.
Claassen, N and Jungk, A 1982 Kaliumdynamik im wurzelnahen Boden in Beziehung zur Kaliumaufnahme von Maispflanzen. Z. Pflanzenernaehr. Bodenkd. 145, 513–525.
Claassen, N, Syring, K M and Jungk, A 1986 Verification of a mathematical model by simulating potassium uptake from soil. Plant and Soil 95, 209–220.
Claassen, N 1990 Aufnahme von Nährstoffen aus dem Boden durch die höhere Pflanze als Ergebnis von Verfügbarkeit und Aneignungsvermögen. Severin-Verlag, Göttingen, Germany. 327 p.
Crank, J 1975 The mathematics of diffusion. Oxford University Press, London. 414 p.
Föhse, D, Claassen, N and Jungk, A 1991 Phosphorus efficiency of plants. II. Significance of root radius, root hairs and cation-anion balance for phosphorus influx in seven plant species. Plant and Soil 132, 261–272.
Grimme, H 1979 The use of rate equations for a quantitative description of K desorption from soils in an external electric field (electro-ultra-filtration). Z. Pflanzenernaehr. Bodenkd. 142, 57–68.
Havlin, J L and Westfall, D G 1985 Potassium release kinetics and plant response in calcareous soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49, 366–370.
Heming, S D and Rowell, D L 1985 Soil structure and potassium supply. I. The release of potassium from soil aggregates to Ca-resin. J. Soil Science 36, 45–60.
Hinsinger, P, Jaillard, B and Dufey, J E 1992 Rapid weathering of a trioctahedral mica by roots of ryegrass. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56, 977–982.
Horn, R and Taubner, H 1989 Effect of aggregation on potassium flux in a structured soil. Z. Pflanzenernaehr. Bodenkd. 152, 99–104.
Johnston A E and Mitchell J D D 1974 The behaviour of K remaining in soils from the Agdell experiment at Rothamsted, the results of intensive cropping in pot experiments and their relation to soil analysis and the results of field experiments. Rep. Rothamsted Exp. Stn for 1969, Pt. 2, 60–90.
Kovar, J L and Barber, S A 1990 Potassium supply characteristics of thirty-three soils as influenced by seven rates of potassium. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 54, 1356–1361.
Kuchenbuch, R and Jungk, A 1984 Wirkung der Kaliumdüngung auf die Kaliumverfügbarkeit in der Rhizosphäre von Raps. Z. Pflanzenernaehr. Bodenkd. 147, 435–448.
Mengel, K and Steffens, D 1985 Potassium uptake of ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and red clover (Trifolium pratense) as related to root parameters. Biol. Fert. Soils 1, 53–58.
Mitsios, I K and Rowell, D L 1987 Plant uptake from exchangeable and non-exchangeable potassium. I. Measuring and modelling for onion roots in a Chalky Boulder Clay soil. J. Soil Sci. 38, 53–63.
Müller, R 1988 Bedeutung des Wurzelwachstums und der Phosphatmobilität für die Phosphaternährung von Winterweizen, Wintergerste und Zuckerrüben. Ph.D. thesis, University of Göttingen, Germany. 146 p.
Newman, E I 1966 A method of estimating the total root length in a sample. J. Appl. Ecol. 3, 139–145.
Nye, P H 1966 The measurement and mechanism of ion diffusion in soil. I. The relation between self-diffusion and bulk diffusion. J. Soil. Sci. 61, 16–23.
Quirk, J P and Chute, J H 1968 Potassium release from mica-like clay minerals.Proc. 9th Int. Congr. Soil Sci., Adelaide, 2, 671–681.
Schachtschabel, P 1937 Aufnahme von nichtaustauschbarem Kali durch die Pflanze. Z. Bodenk. Pflanzenernaehr. 3, 107–133.
Sparks, D L and Huang, P M 1985 Physical chemistry of soil potassium. In Potassium in Agriculture. Ed. R D Munson pp 201–276. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.
Springob, G 1989 Zur Kinetik der K-Fixierung und der K-Freisetzung in Lössböden. Ph. D. thesis, University of Hannover, Germany. 137 p.
Talibudeen, O, Beasley, J D, Lane, P and Rajendran, N 1978 Assessment of soil potassium reserves available to plant roots. J. Soil Sci. 29, 207–218.
Williams, R F 1948 The effect of phosphorus supply on the rates of intake of phosphorus and nitrogen upon certain aspects of phosphorus metabolism and gramineous plants. Aust. J. Sci. Res. (B) 1, 333–361.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meyer, D., Jungk, A. A new approach to quantify the utilization of non-exchangeable soil potassium by plants. Plant Soil 149, 235–243 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016614
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016614