108(3)_str 25

ISSN 1392-3196 / e-ISSN 2335-8947
Zemdirbyste-Agriculture, vol. 108, No. 3 (2021), p. 195–202
DOI 10.13080/z-a.2021.108.025

The influence of long-term fertilisation on phosphorus dynamics in the soil

Jonas ARBAČAUSKAS, Aistė MASEVIČIENĖ, Gediminas STAUGAITIS, Lina ŽIČKIENĖ, Donatas ŠUMSKIS, Zigmas VAIŠVILA

Abstract

A long-term experiment on agricultural plant fertilisation was carried out on a sandy loam Epicalcari-Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Luvisol in Central Lithuania from 1971 to 2019. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of long-term use of mineral phosphorus (P) fertilisers and their interaction with nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) fertilisers on P fertiliser uptake, mobile phosphorus (P2O5) concentration and P balance in the soil, and to evaluate its relationship with P leaching from sandy loam soils.

According to the data of the study, after 49 years different combinations of NPK fertilisers in the fertilised fields resulted in the variations of mobile P2O5 in the 0–20 cm soil layer: 62–71 mg kg-1 without P0, 280–351 mg kg-1 with annual P95 fertilisation and 503–614 mg kg-1 with P190, or 10 times higher compared to zero P application. Due to fertilisation with P, the total phosphorus (Ptot) concentration in the soil increased. The P balance showed that after 49 years of annual applications of P95 to agricultural crops, 45.4–68.7 kg ha-1 was incorporated, and when P190 was applied, 131.0–160.3 kg ha-1 was incorporated in excess of the need for this element by plants. The most inefficient uptake 5.4–11.4% P was observed after annual application of P190 without the use of N and K fertilisers. The uptake increased to 27.3–32.6% when N216K190 fertiliser was applied together with P95. With increasing rates of P fertilisers, P2O5 leaching from the soil 0–40 cm layer increased. Without P application, its annual leaching was as follows: in 1976–1998 – 0.43–0.77 kg ha-1, in 1976–2019 – 0.82–0.90 kg ha-1.

This study was able to establish significant relationships between P fertiliser uptake and NPK fertiliser rates, between mobile P2O5 concentration in the soil and P balance, and between Ptot concentration in the soil and P balance.

Key words: NPK fertilisation, balance, mobile phosphorus, leaching.

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