JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Var. Speedfeed) is a major forage crop in Birjand Region, and phosphorus (P) plays an important role in its nutritional value. During a field campaign, eighty soil samples from the region were collected and analyzed. Among them, 24 samples varying in physico-chemical properties and available P were selected. Five extractants were used for measuring sorghum available P as follows: 1) 0.5 M NaHCO3, pH=8.5, shaken for 30 minutes (Olsen's method), 2) 0.5 M NaHCO3, pH=8.5, shaken for 16 hours (Colwel's method), 3) 0.0025 M Na2-EDTA, pH=7 (EDTA method), 4) 1 M NH4HCO3, 0.005 N DTPA (Soltanpour and Schwab's method), and 5) Water (Paauw's method). A greenhouse experiment using a completely randomized design was carried out with 24 soil samples, two treatments of 0 and 90 mg P/kg soil and three replicates. Results indicated that all five extractants are suitable for prediction of sorghum available phosphorus, but Olson and Paauw's methods are preferable. The results also show ed that the critical levels of soil phosphorus for sorghum by Olsen, Colwel, EDTA, Soltanpour and Schwab and Paauw methods are 17, 24, 14, 7 and 2.5 mg P/kg soil, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that soil pH, clay percentage and organic carbon significantly affected sorghum available phosphorus.

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In order to determine optimum equilibrium solution phosphorus (P) concentration using P adsorption isotherm and obtain model(s) by integrating soil solution P concentration, physicochemical properties, and soil P test (available P) which predict standard P requirements to achieve maximum yield, laboratory and glasshouse experiments were conducted on 36 soil samples belonging to 15 soil series and 14 soil samples, respectively. Using wheat as a test crop, the glasshouse experiment was laid out with five P levels in a completely randomized design with three replications. Concentrations of P in solution established by adding P in the pots estimated from the sorption curve ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 mg P/L including check treatment (no P). The results showed that equilibrium solution P concentration (EPC) was almost low in comparison with the requirement for most crops (<0.2 mg/L). The amount of P adsorbed by the soils at 0.2 mg/L EPC ranged from 5 to 114 mg/kg soil. The phosphate adsorption was well described by Freundlich (R2 = 0.96) and Langmuir (R2 = 0.88) isotherms. Langmuir maximum adsorption (Xm) and Freundlich coefficient (aF) estimated from Langmuir and Freundlich equations ranged from 127 to 238 mg P /kg soil and from 43 to 211 mg P/kg, respectively. Yield of wheat in all soils approached maximum as adjusted P levels were increased to 0.4 mg P/L. The results showed that some soils studied were adequate in available P by the NaHCO3 test, but required an amount of P fertilizer by the isotherm P requirement test to obtain maximum biomass production. Soil clay content was significantly related to the soil P sorption indices, P0.4 (P sorbed at 0.4 mg P/L EPC) (R = 0.40, P<0.01), PBC (P buffering capacity) (R = 0.54, P<0.001), aF (R = 0.48, P<0.01), and Xm (R = 0.40, P<0.01). Total CaCO3 and Active CaCO3 were found to be less important factors affecting P adsorption. Using stepwise regression analysis resulted in a useful regression model including the combination of Olsen P and clay content for the prediction of standard P requirement (P0.4).