Phosphorus Use in High Yield Cropping Systems (original) (raw)
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Advances in Agronomy, 2015
Phosphorus (P) is a limiting nutrient for the productivity of many agroecosystems, and the depletion of global mineral P reserves is of concern for global food security. On the other hand, overfertilization with P and its subsequent export through runoff can cause eutrophication of water bodies and natural terrestrial habitats. An important challenge is therefore to develop productive farming systems in which P availability in soils is increased, while reducing mineral P inputs, outputs, and negative off-site impacts.
Strategies for Enhancing Phosphorus Efficiency in Crop Production Systems
Phosphorus (P) is the second important key element after nitrogen as a mineral nutrient for crop production. An adequate supply of P during early phases of plant development is essential for the root establishment and growth as well as for laying down the primordia of plant reproductive parts. Although abundant in soils in both organic and inorganic forms, P is the least available to plants due to its high fixation in most soil conditions and slow diffusion. Therefore, P can be a major limiting nutrient for plant growth on many soils across the world. Agricultural productivity will be lower without P, and consequently less food will be produced per unit area of land, especially in the least developed and developing countries where access to P fertilizers are restricted due to the rising costs of P fertilizer. Therefore, P is essential for the intensive agricultural production systems and thus contributes significantly to the present and future global food production and security. P is usually added to soil as chemical P fertilizer to satisfy the nutritional requirements of crop; however, plants can use only a small amount of this P since 75–90 % of added P is precipitated by metal–cation complexes and rapidly becomes fixed in soils. There is an increasing concern about the sustainability of P in agricultural production systems largely due to shortage of inorganic P fertilizer resources and environmental effects of agricultural P use beyond the field in the form of eutrophication. Such environmental concerns have led to the search for sustainable way of P nutrition of crops. Enhancing the efficiency of P in plants can be obtained through improving P acquisition by plants from the A. Datta (*) • Z. Ferdous • C.C. Win
Phosphorus management strategies to enhance P-use efficiency and sustainable crop production
International Journal of Chemical Studies, 2021
Phosphorus is the second important primary nutrient element after nitrogen. Low P use efficiency is the significant challenge for agricultural production on P-deficient soil as well as in acidic and calcareous soils (Shenoy et al. 2005). Acquisition of soil and fertilizer P by crops depends on soil and plant properties. Soil processes determining P availability to plants are P solubility/sorption, P transport, root/soil contact and mineralization/ immobilization (Horst et al. 2001). Agronomic strategies for enhancing P use efficiency includes selection of fertilizer, soil test based P application, methods of P fertilizer application, fertigation, residual P utilization by different crops, utilization of insoluble P sources by addition of organic matter and phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSM), integrated nutrient management (Subba Rao 2010). Improved P use efficiency has been observed by Mengel (1997) in acidic soil by applying P at the time of sowing and liming. The two main strategies which help plants to improve P use efficiency are (i) root-foraging strategies that improve P acquisition; and (ii) P-mining strategies to enhance the desorption, solubilization or mineralization of P from sparingly soluble sources in soil using root exudates (Richardson et al. 2011).
Strategies and agronomic interventions to improve the phosphorus-use efficiency of farming systems
Plant and Soil, 2011
Phosphorus (P)-deficiency is a significant challenge for agricultural productivity on many highly P-sorbing weathered and tropical soils throughout the world. On these soils it can be necessary to apply up to five-fold more P as fertiliser than is exported in products. Given the finite nature of global P resources, it is important that such inefficiencies be addressed. For low P-sorbing soils, P-efficient farming systems will also assist attempts to reduce pollution associated with P losses to the environment. P-balance inefficiency of farms is associated with loss of P in erosion, runoff or leaching, uneven dispersal of animal excreta, and accumulation of P as sparingly-available phosphate and organic P in the soil. In many cases it is possible to minimise P losses in runoff or erosion. Uneven dispersal of P in excreta typically amounts to~5% of P-fertiliser inputs. However, the rate of P accumulation in moderate to highly P-sorbing soils is a major contributor to inefficient P-fertiliser use. We discuss the causal edaphic, plant and microbial factors in the context of Plant Soil soil P management, P cycling and productivity goals of farms. Management interventions that can alter P-use efficiency are explored, including better targeted P-fertiliser use, organic amendments, removing other constraints to yield, zone management, use of plants with low critical-P requirements, and modified farming systems. Higher productivity in low-P soils, or lower P inputs in fertilised agricultural systems can be achieved by various interventions, but it is also critically important to understand the agroecology of plant P nutrition within farming systems for improvements in P-use efficiency to be realised.
Feed the crop not the soil: rethinking phosphorus management in the food chain
Environmental science & technology, 2014
Society relies heavily on inorganic phosphorus (P) compounds throughout its food chain. This dependency is not only very inefficient and increasingly costly but is depleting finite global reserves of rock phosphate. It has also left a legacy of P accumulation in soils, sediments and wastes that is leaking into our surface waters and contributing to widespread eutrophication. We argue for a new, more precise but more challenging paradigm in P fertilizer management that seeks to develop more sustainable food chains that maintain P availability to crops and livestock but with reduced amounts of imported mineral P and improved soil function. This new strategy requires greater public awareness of the environmental consequences of dietary choice, better understanding of soil-plant-animal P dynamics, increased recovery of both used P and unutilized legacy soil P, and new innovative technologies to improve fertilizer P recovery. In combination, they are expected to deliver significant econo...
New insights into phosphorus management in agriculture — A crop rotation approach
Science of The Total Environment, 2016
Oilseed rape and maize exploit easily available phosphorus resources from the soil. • Oilseed rape improves soil P and yield stability in the entire cropping sequence. • Reliable P budgets include total P TI input from all external and internal P sources. • Yield instability based on P TI is due to imbalanced management of external P sources. • Wise implementation of crop rotations and manure can benefit soil P resources.
Phosphorus: Analysis And Use in Agriculture
In many agricultural systems, phosphorus (P) is one of the most limiting mineral nutrients for plant production. Phosphorus in agriculture is the second most growth limiting macronutrient after nitrogen, its proper management in soil contributes significantly to sustainable crop production. In such soils wherever yield is restricted as a result of low Phosphorus concentration, application of comparatively higher quantity of mineral phosphorus fertilizers is that the only way to enhance soil phosphorus. The commonly phosphorus fertilizers that contain P 2
Agronomic measures for increasing P availability to crops
Plant and Soil, 2001
Acquisition of soil and fertiliser phosphorus (P) by crops depends on soil and plant properties. Soil processes determining P availability to plants are P solubility/sorption, P transport, root/soil contact and mineralisation/immobilisation. Plants have evolved properties contributing to a more efficient use of plant-available soil P and to mobilise P from less available soil P fractions. Agronomic measures may affect P availability to crops through the modification of soil properties or through direct quantitative and qualitative crop impact on soil P dynamics. Among the agronomic measures, the application of organic matter such as green manure and crop residues to maintain or increase soil organic matter content and to enhance soil biological activity, and the incorporation into the cropping system of P-mobilising plant species are particularly beneficial.
Options for Improved Phosphorus Cycling and Use in Agriculture at the Field and Regional Scales
Journal of Environmental Quality, 2019
Soil phosphorus (P) cycling in agroecosystems is highly complex, with many chemical, physical, and biological processes affecting the availability of P to plants. Traditionally, P fertilizer recommendations have been made using an insurance‐based approach, which has resulted in the accumulation of P in many intensively managed agricultural soils worldwide and contributed to the widespread water quality issue of eutrophication. To mitigate further environmental degradation and because future P fertilizer supplies are threatened due to finite phosphate rock resources and associated geopolitical and quality issues, there is an immediate need to increase P use efficiency (PUE) in agroecosystems. Through cultivar selection and improved cropping system design, contemporary research suggests that sufficient crop yields could be maintained at reduced soil test P (STP) concentrations. In addition, more efficient P cycling at the field scale can be achieved through agroecosystem management th...
Towards optimal use of phosphorus fertiliser
Scientific Reports
Because phosphorus (P) is one of the most limiting nutrients in agricultural systems, P fertilisation is essential to feed the world. However, declining P reserves demand far more effective use of this crucial resource. Here, we use meta-analysis to synthesize yield responses to P fertilisation in grasslands, the most common type of agricultural land, to identify under which conditions P fertilisation is most effective. Yield responses to P fertilisation were 40–100% higher in (a) tropical vs temperate regions; (b) grass/legume mixtures vs grass monocultures; and (c) soil pH of 5–6 vs other pHs. The agronomic efficiency of P fertilisation decreased for greater P application rates. Moreover, soils with low P availability reacted disproportionately strong to fertilisation. Hence, low fertiliser application rates to P-deficient soils result in stronger absolute yield benefits than high rates applied to soils with a higher P status. Overall, our results suggest that optimising P fertili...