Leaching of total phosphorus in greenhouse soil in relation to soil

fertility and fertilizer application

Lu Fei1, 2, a, Xin Chen1, b *, Muqiu Zhao1, 3, c, Yajie Zhao1, 2, d，Yi Shi1, e, and

Bin Huang1, f 1Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy

of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China

2Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

3 Qiong Zhou University, Sanya 572022, China

axiaofei_wolf@163.com, bchenxin@iae.ac.cn, czhaomuqiu@sina.com, dzhaoyajie-2005@163.com, eshiyi@iae.ac.cn, fhuangbin@iae.ac.cn

Keywords: Phosphorus leaching; Soil fertility level; Fertilizer application

Abstract. Inappropriate applications of phosphorus (P) in agricultural production lead to the

leaching loss of P, which subsequently contributes to the eutrophication of water bodies. A leaching

experiment using unsaturated intact soil columns was conducted to study the influence of fertilizer

application on leaching of phosphorus in a gley meadow soil at different fertility levels (low-,

medium and high fertility levels). The soil column at each fertility level received three fertilization

treatments (control [CK], manure [M] and chemical fertilizer [F]). The results indicated that the

leaching loss of total P (TP) from the soil column was induced by the P input from either manure or

chemical fertilizer application, and the extent of leaching loss of P was also positively related to the

soil fertility level. In addition, the TP concentrations in the leachates from all fertilization treatments

exceeded the critical value for water eutrophication (0.02 mg P/L). This suggests that applications

of manure and chemical fertilizer at proper rates with close consideration of the soil fertility level

are essential to reduce the leaching loss of TP to the environment.

Introduction

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for crop growth, and chemical P fertilization is widely

used in China. Although chemical fertilization can increase P inputs, it also brings about a potential

risk of P losses from cultivated soils. With the adjustment of fertilization applications, manure has

been widely used for croplands, especially in greenhouse cultivation. Manure can serve as a

fertilizer source for crop production, supplying essential nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, S, Cu, Fe,

Mg, Mo, and Zn) [1]. Compared to chemical fertilizer application, manure application can increase

soil organic matter and reduce erosion [2]. Generally, manure input applied to meet crop N need

that may result in the buildup of P in soil. Although that may bring about environmental

disturbances, considering about the economic benefit from increasing crops yield, manure has been

heavy even excessive used. Many studies show that heavy manure usage for greenhouse cultivation

increase P and N concentrations in greenhouse farming soils, resulting in P and N enrichments that

may cause the risk of P and N losses from soils [3]. Long-term phosphorus (P) inputs from animal

manure in amounts exceeding the need of crops significantly increase the levels of all P forms in

soils. That can cause increases the risk of P loss and eutrophication of surface freshwater bodies

when the P sorption capacity of soil approaches saturation.

Advanced Materials Research Vols. 183-185 (2011) pp 1100-1104Online available since 2011/Jan/20 at www.scientific.net© (2011) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerlanddoi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.183-185.1100

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,www.ttp.net. (ID: 129.186.1.55, Iowa State University, Ames, USA-15/10/14,14:00:41)

According to a research, phosphorus loss from agricultural soils is one of the major sources for

surface waters pollution, and it contributes to the eutrophication of fresh waters [4]. A column

leaching study indicated that a typical sandy soil of Florida applied with water-soluble P fertilizer

resulted in leaching loss of added P by 96.6% [5]. Although soil have a strong ability for P sorption,

concentration of P in the leachate may be at high levels [6].

The main objective of our study presented in this paper is to monitor the contents and dynamics

of TP in the leachate from unsaturated intact soil columns in relation to soil fertility level and

fertilization application.

Materials and Methods

Soil column Setup. Undisturbed soil columns were collected from three different fertile

agricultural fields of a same type soil (gley meadow) in Shenyang suburb, Liaoning province, China

(41°55.256'N and 122°58.548'E). The three fields show different soil fertility after applications of a

compound fertilizer at the same rate (equivalent to 73.2 kg P/hm2) and manure at 0, 20 or 60 t/hm

2

for 5 years. The basic soil physical and chemical characters for the low-fertile, medium-fertile and

high-fertile fields were listed in Table 1. For the study, we designed three fertilization treatments as

control [CK], manure [M], chemical fertilizer [F] (Table 2).

TABLE I. SOIL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GLEY MEADOW SOIL AT THREE

FERTILITY LEVELS

Soil

fertility pH

TC TN TP Avail. P Avail. K

(g/kg) (mg/kg)

Low 7.67 11.66 1.13 0.48 24 405

Medium 7.17 12.01 1.31 0.85 37 489

High 6.84 13.13 1.57 1.12 76 600

TABLE II. AMOUNT OF P INPUT FROM EACH FERTILIZATION TREATMENT

Treatment Manure input Fertilizer put Total input

(kg P hm2) (kg P hm

2) (kg P hm

2)

CK 0 0 0

M 302 0 302

F 0 561 561

A 45-cm long PVC column with an internal diameter of 19-cm was used for holding the intact

soil column. The PVC column was manually driven into the soil down to the 40-cm depth using a

hammer. The soil surrounding the PVC column was removed, and the soil was cut with a knife at

the bottom of the casing. Then, the bottom of the soil column was filled with a layer of acid-washed

(0.1M HCl) sand and a nylon filtration screen and fitted with a PVC end cap, in which a hole

(diameter 1.2cm) was drilled for collection leachate. Lettuce (3-4cm high) as a leaf vegetable was

transplanted into each column (Fig. 1) [7].

The columns were irrigated with 2.1L ground water once every three days. The leaching

experiment lasted for 49 days.

Leachate Collection and Analysis. The leachate was collected by free drainage into a vessel and

was sampled on the first day and once every three days afterwards. After collection, the leachate

was stored up for further analysis. The total phosphorus (TP) concentration in the leachate was

Advanced Materials Research Vols. 183-185 1101

determined colorimetrically by the molybdate blue method of Murphy and Riley [8], using a

visible-infrared spectrometer. The total leaching losses of TP（Qx）was calculated with (1): 49

1

x i i

i

Q C V=

= ×∑ (1)

Where Ci is the TP concentration in leachate (mg/L), Vi is the volume of leachate (L), x is the

fertility management and i is time of incubation. The data obtained from the experiment was

analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2003.

Fig1 Overview of unsaturated intact soil column

Result and Discussion

Temporal dynamics of TP concentration in the leachate. The temporal change of the TP

concentration in the leacheate from each treatment was shown in Fig. 2. Those changes were fit by

the linear equation: Pt=kt+Pt0, which Pt is the content of TP that related to the incubation, mg/L; k is

the daily amplification factor through the whole incubation, mg/L·d; Pt0 is the correction constant

representing the immediate content of soil TP after P input, mg/L. The parameters for the linear

equation for each treatment were shown in Table 4. The results from the linear equation analysis

showed that the TP daily amplification factor (k) of each treatment was positively related to the rate

of P input and the correction constant (Pt0) was vice verse. Except for the CK treatments, the

minimum of TP concentrations in the other treatments all exceed the critical value for water

eutrophication (0.02 mg P/L).

Total leaching losses of DTP in leachate. Table 3 shows that the total leaching losses of TP in

relation to soil fertility and fertilizer application. When no fertilizer was applied, the total leaching

loss of TP was only considerable at the high fertility level. When manure as the fertilizer was

applied, the total leaching losses of TP were considerable at all three soil fertility levels. The total

losses of TP after chemical fertilizer application were high at each soil fertility level, especially at

the high-fertility level. The total leaching losses of TP was regulated by the soil mineralization and

assimilation processes. While these two processes were both important in the medium- and

high-fertile soils, the assimilation of P from chemical fertilizer by the low fertile soil was likely

weak. As a result, the total leaching loss of TP in the L-F treatment was similar to that in the H-F

treatment but much higher than that in the M-F treatment.

1102 Environmental Biotechnology and Materials Engineering

The results from our study showed that the soil still had a relatively strong capacity to store P

from either manure or chemical fertilizer at the medium fertility level, but became lowered at the

high-fertile level, especially for P from chemical fertilizer.

L

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Days of incubation (d)

TP (mg/L)

CK

M

F

M

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Days of incubation (d)

TP (mg/L)

CK

M

F

H

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Days of incubation (d)

TP (mg/L)

CK

M

F

Fig.2 Temporal dynamics of TP

TABLE III. TOTAL LEACHING LOSSE OF DTP FROM THE COLUMN IN RELATION TO

SOIL FERTILITY AND FERTILIZATION APPLICATION

Fertility level

(Treatment)

Total Leaching loss (mg)

CK M F

L 3.5 22.20 97.92

M 4.03 36.07 46.83

H 28.78 85.60 106.83

Advanced Materials Research Vols. 183-185 1103

TABLE IV. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TEMPORAL VARIATION OF DTP IN THE

LEACHATE

Fertility level

(Treatment) k Pt0 R

2

Max Min average

mg/L

L

CK 0.01 0.06 0.05 0.63 0 0.13

M 0.07 0.52 0.31 2.44 0.21 1.16

F 0.03 3.12 0.01 6.88 1.22 3.35

M

CK 0.01 0.07 0.03 0.63 0 0.12

M 0 0.27 0.19 2.48 0 0.71

F -0.06 2.13 0.09 4.66 0.19 1.61

H

CK 0.01 0.89 0.01 2.33 0.23 0.98

M 0.30 0.05 0.42 8.77 0.42 2.73

F -0.08 4.08 0.03 11.32 1.55 3.38

Acknowledgment

This research was financially supported by National Key Technology R&D Program of China

(No.2008BADA7B08)， the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 309780479) and

National Special Scientific Project for Water (2008 ZX070208-07-2).

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Environmental Biotechnology and Materials Engineering 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.183-185 Leaching of Total Phosphorus in Greenhouse Soil in Relation to Soil Fertility and Fertilizer

Application 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.183-185.1100

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