Soil bypass P for enhanced availability in acid soils

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is known as one of the essential macroelements for all life, is as important as Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) for as a fertilizer component, and unfortunately, is a limited, nonrenewable natural resource, which makes it extremely important to secure efficient utilization as a plant nutrient. When P-fertilizers are applied to soil, strong binding of phosphate can occur, particularly in acid soils. This fixation of fertilizer-P in the soil matrix limits the uptake of fertilizer P by the growing crops, leading to a low recovery of fertilizer P in the harvest. Fixed P is accumulating in soil as more P-fertilizer applied, and this phosphate is so tightly bound to the soil that crops can only take up a minor fraction of it. In this thesis, a conceptual novel P-fertilizer was presented as a hypothetical solution to this P-fixation problem.