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Grain legume pre-crops and their residues affect the growth, P uptake and size of P pools in the rhizosphere of the following wheat

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Abstract

Legumes have been shown to increase P uptake of the following cereal, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of legume pre-crops and their residues on the growth, P uptake and size of soil P pools in the rhizosphere of the following wheat. Three grain legumes (faba bean, chickpea and white lupin) were grown until maturity in loamy sand soil with low P availability to which 80 mg P kg−1 was supplied. This pre-crop soil was then amended with legume residues or left un-amended and planted with wheat. The growth, P uptake and concentrations of P pools in the rhizosphere of the following wheat were measured 6 weeks after sowing. In a separate experiment, residue decomposition was measured over 42 days by determining soil CO2 release as well as available N and P. Decomposition rates were highest for chickpea residues and lowest for wheat residues. P release was greatest from white lupin residues and N release was greatest from faba bean residues, while wheat residues resulted in net N and P immobilisation. The growth of the following wheat was greater in legume pre-crop soil without residue than in soils with residue addition, while the reverse was true for plant P concentration. Among the legumes, faba bean had the strongest effect on growth, P uptake and concentrations of the rhizosphere P pools of the following wheat. Regardless of the pre-crop and residue treatment, wheat depleted the less labile pools residual P as well as NaOH-Pi and Po, with a stronger depletion of the organic pool. We conclude that although P in the added residues may become available during decomposition, the presence of the residues in the soil had a negative effect on the growth of the following wheat. Further, pre-crops or their residues had little effect on the size of P pools in the rhizosphere of wheat.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Australian Research Council. HMH acknowledges the support from Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia for her studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soils Group, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The Waite Research Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005, Australia

    Hasnuri Mat Hassan, Petra Marschner & Ann McNeill

  2. Department of Agricultural Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, 3086, Victoria, Australia

    Caixian Tang

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia

    Hasnuri Mat Hassan

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  1. Hasnuri Mat Hassan
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  2. Petra Marschner
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  3. Ann McNeill
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  4. Caixian Tang
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Correspondence to Hasnuri Mat Hassan.

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Mat Hassan, H., Marschner, P., McNeill, A. et al. Grain legume pre-crops and their residues affect the growth, P uptake and size of P pools in the rhizosphere of the following wheat. Biol Fertil Soils 48, 775–785 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0671-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0671-8

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