organic phosphorus in oklahoma soils

12
ACADBMY OP SCIBNCB 1'08 1M1 ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS IN OKLAHOMA SOILSl WILLIAM L. GARMAN,' Oklahoma Aptcultaral Experlmen* Sutton, Stlllwaw INTRODUCTION Early investigators discovered that part of the 8011 phosphorus was present in an organic form and that the latter may make up a high percentage of the total. More recent investigation has shown that organic phosphorus in sol1 can be separated quantitatively from the inorganic phosphorus com- pounds. Methods have been developed to fractionate the organic phos- phorus and such substances as nucleic acld, lecithin, inositol, and phytin have been isolated and identified. From the thousands of tests' that have been made in Oklahoma to de- termine the avallab111ty of sol1 phosphorus by extraction with solutionr of varying degrees of acidity, it Is clearly evident that many soils are very deficient in inorganic phosphorus. The aVa1lab111ty of organic phosphorus cannot be determined by these methods since organic phosphorus compounds are not soluble in dllute acids. When weather conditions are favorable, good crops are frequently produced on soils which are very low in available tn- organic phosphorus but which are well supplied with organic matter from the addition of organic residue with a narrow carbon-nitrogen ratio. This evi- dence indicates that plants are ut111Z1ng organic phosphorus either directly or indirectly as a source of phosphorus. Th1s investigation was planned to study the relation between organic phosphorus and total nitrogen in soU organic matter &8 affected by cultivation. 1'1'1W1 paper ... adopted frOm a UleUJ presented tor the ctesree ot muter ot 1C1ence. Ok1ab.oma A. and II. COllege. '!'be W11ter Is 1D4ebted to Dr. JL J. BaI'per for Interen and cooperation in COD- nect10D wtth 'AftllabIe lnol'PDlc-phoephorua det1clenclet ftrJ trom 1811 thaD 3.G-percent deft- cleD.t 1D the western pra1l1e and hlah plalDa restona to more thaIl 8O-percent det1cleDt In eu1em Oklahoma. Pbospborua .det1clency ten4I to c1ecreue ... umual rainfall 48ulturlc IlCI4 (O.m., pH 0.88) WUl estraot from 1 to 2 percent of UIe total Pboe- PboIw from RroDal7 ackl .ao.. uaIDC & 1-10 eoU-&C14 ratio. AceUc acl4 (0.2". pH aM) WU1 DDt remoYe 10 much 1I'OD pbmp__ 1lbe .u1furte ackl. n..e are no& aYal1able to all cropa.

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ACADBMY OP SCIBNCB 1'08 1M1 •

ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS IN OKLAHOMA SOILSlWILLIAM L. GARMAN,' Oklahoma Aptcultaral Experlmen* Sutton, Stlllwaw

INTRODUCTIONEarly investigators discovered that part of the 8011 phosphorus was present

in an organic form and that the latter may make up a high percentage ofthe total. More recent investigation has shown that organic phosphorus insol1 can be separated quantitatively from the inorganic phosphorus com­pounds. Methods have been developed to fractionate the organic phos­phorus and such substances as nucleic acld, lecithin, inositol, and phytinhave been isolated and identified.

From the thousands of tests' that have been made in Oklahoma to de­termine the avallab111ty of sol1 phosphorus by extraction with solutionr ofvarying degrees of acidity, it Is clearly evident that many soils are verydeficient in inorganic phosphorus. The aVa1lab111ty of organic phosphoruscannot be determined by these methods since organic phosphorus compoundsare not soluble in dllute acids. When weather conditions are favorable, goodcrops are frequently produced on soils which are very low in available tn­organic phosphorus but which are well supplied with organic matter from theaddition of organic residue with a narrow carbon-nitrogen ratio. This evi­dence indicates that plants are ut111Z1ng organic phosphorus either directlyor indirectly as a source of phosphorus.

Th1s investigation was planned to study the relation between organicphosphorus and total nitrogen in soU organic matter &8 affected by cultivation.

1'1'1W1 paper ... adopted frOm a UleUJ presented tor the ctesree ot muter ot 1C1ence.Ok1ab.oma A. and II. COllege.

'!'be W11ter Is 1D4ebted to Dr. JL J. BaI'per for~ Interen and cooperation in COD­

nect10D wtth tb1a~.

'AftllabIe lnol'PDlc-phoephorua det1clenclet ftrJ trom 1811 thaD 3.G-percent deft­cleD.t 1D the western pra1l1e and hlah plalDa restona to more thaIl 8O-percent det1cleDtIn eu1em Oklahoma. Pbospborua .det1clency ten4I to c1ecreue ... umual rainfall~.

48ulturlc IlCI4 (O.m., pH 0.88) WUl estraot from 1 to 2 percent of UIe total Pboe­PboIw from RroDal7 ackl .ao.. uaIDC & 1-10 eoU-&C14 ratio. AceUc acl4 (0.2". pH aM)WU1 DDt remoYe 10 much ~drated 1I'OD pbmp__ • 1lbe .u1furte ackl. n..e~~ are no& aYal1able to all cropa.

PROCBBDINOS OP TBB OKLAHOMA

RBV1BW OP THE LITERATtJRB

Mulder (1844) noted the presence of phosphorus in organic soU material.

BopIdDa and Pettit <1908> noted that certain solls of unlform mineralcomposition contain more phosphorus in the surface than in the subsoUand IUIlested that the difference might be due to organic phosphorus.

Alfo (19(K) tdent1tied lecithin. the first organic phosphorus compoundiIoJated trom IOU.

8~rey (1911) iaolated nucleic acid from soU extracts.

Auten's <1921> experiments show that when compounds of organic phos­phorus are incubated in s1l1ca sand for three months, 85 percent of thenUcleic acid phosphorus. 67 percent of the phytin phosphorus, and 66 per­cent of the lecithin phosphorus change to inorganic form.

Wh1t1Dg and Heck (1926) had remarkable success using phyt1n as alOurce of phosphorus for growing oats and red clover in sand cultures.

McGeorge and Breazeal (1932> in their studies with green and barnyardmanures concluded that the organic phosphates in these fert1l1zers are ofcons1derable importance. They believed that of the organic phosphorus com­pounds the most important and abundant are phyt1n, lecithin, and nucleicacid. Phytln is a calcium-magnesium salt of inositol phosphoric acid; lecithinII a choUne-glycerol-phosphoric acid; and nucleic acid, the full compositionof Which is unknown. breaks down into phosphoric acid, a carbohydrate phos­phoric acid. a carbohydrate. and a purine or pyrimidine base. Since theybelieved phyt1n to be the most abundant of the organic phosphorus com­pounds in soU, they checked the solublility of the pure compound and foundit to be 9 ppm in pure water and 11 ppm in CO.-saturated water. When the.aolubillty was tested in solutions conta1n1ng CaCO. and NaHCO•• the solubilltywas further increased to 16.2 and 16.0 ppm respectively. This indicates thatphyt1n should be readily soluble in alkaUne solls. Their studies also indicatethat phyt1n reacts toward changes in pH in a manner simllar to the ironand aluminum phosphates in that it is much less soluble in an acid solu­tion than in an alkaline solution. Above pH 7.0, the solubility steadily in­creases in the presence of NaOH, whlle in solutions of Ca(OH>" the solubilltysteadilY decreases with increse in pH until it is practically all precipitatedat pH 9.0.

Spencer and Stewart (1934) studied the use of organic phosphates whichmight have a greater soU-penteratlng power than the common inorganicphosphate carriers. Their results shOWed that the phosphorus in organicphosphates escaped, to a marked degree, the fixation which occurs to a phos­phate applied in some organic form. Specific examples of the organic phos­phates used are calcium mono-ortho-phosphate of glycerol, CaH.s (OB), - OPO.Oa. and potassium sorbltyl di-orthophosphate, C.u. (OB>. - (OPO,K,).. An­alys1a of the water solutions passlng through the soU demonstrated thatwhereas 88-99· percent of the inorganic phosphate was fixed, only 5-20 per­cent of the organic compounds were retained by the soU.

WI'en8hall and others (W. and McKIbben 1938; W. and Dyer 1939; D., W.,and 8m1th UKO; D. and W. IM1; W.- and D. IM1) at Macdonald COllege inoanad& shOWed that phytic acid forms two c:Ust1nct ferric salts, havingformulas correspondJDg approximately to (C.H»(PO,>.).P'e. and CeH.(PO,)Pe,.They also found a compound of aluminum with Ph:1t1c acid which was m­aoluble in an acld solution. Their studles on the decompcs1tion of some ofthe organic phosphorus compounds in soU cultures tend to indicate thatOJ'IUlc aoll phosphorus represents an accumulation of stable forms and nota labile tract10n malntatned by synthetic activities. It was believed to be&be lDactlve end product of BOll processes and hence relatively unavallableto both plants and mlcro-organ1ams. They point out that soU conditionsbltluence the decree of accumulation to a considerable eztent. ThJa beingdemoMtn.tecl by the fact that their ana1J1da showed lntertUe acid so11a tooaotalD a blaher percentap. of orp.nlc pboepborua thaD Ule neutral or

ACADEMY OP SCIENCE POR lK7 91

calcareous solls. Phytin. being one of the compounds that accumulates InsoU. was believed to enter into insoluble combinations With sesquloxide con­stituents under acid condition. thereby becoming resistant to enzymatichYdrolysis.

Bower (1945) separated phytln from the soU in quantities large enoughto study Its composition. He found 25 to 35 percent of the organic phosphorusin three Iowa solls to be phytln and another 11 to 15 percent to be phytlnderivatives. Since he was able to isolate some of the phytin derivatives. heconcluded that the organic phosphorus was decomposing but at a ratherlow rate. The phytln derivatives precipitated as their calcium salts hadan inositol-phosphorus ratio corresponding most closely with that of inositoltriphosphate.

METHODS OF ANALYSIS

Fraps (1911) showed that organic phosphates are soluble in ammonia afterextraction with hydrochloric acid. This was probably the first successfulseparation of organic from inorganic soU phosphorus. Later Potter and Ben­ton (1916) originated a method for distlngulsh1ng between these two typesof phosphorus in solls. Many others (Auten 1921. Dean 1938. Dickman andDeTurk 1938. Dyer and Wrenshall 1941. Odynsky 1936, Pearson 1940. SChol­lenberger 1918. Yoshida 1940) have made slight modifications in techniqueand have improved the original methods used by earlier investigators.

The method used by most investigators consists essentially of determin­ing (by the Deniges' method) the inorganic phosphorus in one aliquot por­tion of the ammonia-soU extract after it has been decolor1Zed with brominewater or carbon black. Total phosphorus Is determined in a second aliquotof the same extract after ignition or digestion with strong acid. The dif­ference between the quantities found in the two aliquots is considered tobe organic. The ammonia-soil extract is prepared by digesting the soUsample in O.5-N. ammonium or sodium hydroxide after the removal of cal­cium with dilute hydrochloric acid.

In general, the method suggested by Pearson (1940) with some modifi­cation was used in this study. Instead of ignition to decompose the organicphosphorus, a digestion with hot concentrated perchloric acid (70-72-percentHClO,) was found to be more expedient.

SOURCE OF MATERIALSThe soU samples used in this study were obtained from fifteen counties

in the State. A virgin and a cultivated sample from each of 30 differentsoil types was collected. the location being shown in Table I. The cultivatedsample was collected as nearly adjacent to the Virgin sample as was possiblein order to minimiZe variance in parent material. All of the soils were takento a depth of six inches.

Three soil types were chosen for a study of the distribution of organicphosphorus in the soU profile. The Oswego sUt loam and the Newtonia veryfine sandy loam were developed under grass vegetation; the Bowie very finesandy loam was developed under timber. All three were vlrg1n solls. Theirlocation is shown in Table IV.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSComparative LoI8ea 01 Total P1u»p1UJrf.U, Total Nitrogen,' and Organic Pho,­

phorus til Resulu 01 CuUfvatfon

Prom the standpoint of plant nutrition the soU organic matter furn1IbeIall of the nitrogen. a large portion of the sulfur, and some of the phosphoruato growing plants. Very little information exists in the literature on thequantity of soU phosphorus present in organic form. There baa also beenquestion as to whether the organic phosphorus compounda are be1ng de­composed into readily available fol'JD8 which plants can utwze.

The data in Table 1 show that organic phosphorus compounds are ac­cumulating in son to a very marked extent. TUlman cla)' loam from KIowa

n' PROCBImIN08 OP TO OBI,AHOMA

00aDtr CODtalDed 173 ppm of oraaD1c phosphorus m the vtra:Jn CODdltlcm;tbiI &IDOUDt 11 60.6 percent ot the total phosphorus present. Pratt 10aDQtIDe MUd from MAjor County conta1Decl only 46 ppm orpnlc phosphorua wbleb..u .7~ percent ot the total.

TheM two 8O1l8 represent the extremes in the amount of organic phos­phorut found 1D the soils stucUecl; bUt. even though the quantities arewtde17 different. the lOlls 88 a group show that when the organlc phos­phOl'Ul 11 loW the total phosphorus 18 also low.

It 18 apparent from these analyses that a large portion of the totalphosphorus in soU has been combined in organIc form since these substancesaecount for '8 percent of the total phosphorua. Pearson and Simonson (UNO)found the organic-phosphorus content of seven Iowa 80118 to be from 27.2to 86.2 percent of the total phosphorus. Since the soU organIc phosphorus1& present In relative large quantities. it should be made ava.11able for plantuse through enzymatic hydrol0818 even though the inorganic phosphorustractlon 18 held in unava11able combination. Some of the experiments ofWblt1Dl and Heck (1926) would confirm this op1n1on since they found thatcertain crops, Uke oats and red clover, could utll1ze phyt1n 88 a source ofphosphorus when these crops were grown in sand cultures.

The data in Table I show that the average amount of inorganic phos­phorus removed from the 801118 only slightly h1gher than the average amountof orpnlc phosphorus removed or lost through cultivation. The averages

. show about 19 percent of the organic phosphorus and 22 percent of the in­orpnlc phosphorus was removed from the soils in th1s group. It is also in­tere8t1n1 to note that some of the soils which are low in pH have lost vir­tually none of their organic phosphorus. This agrees closely with previousJpvestlgations <Bower 1945; Dyer, Wrenshall, and Smith 1940; McGeorge andBreazeale 1932; Spencer and Stewart 1934) concerning the fixing ability ofthe aesquloxide constituents on some organic-phosphorus compounds in acidsoU. PbYtln phosphorus, for example, when in combination With iron oralum1num is very insoluble and would resist enzymatic hydrolosJs to amarked degree.

There has been a question as to Whether nitrogen and organic phosphorusare chemically combined in certain of the organic compounds in soU. U theyare. there is good reason to belleve that their decomposition patterns wouldfall along parallel lines. In an effort to show this relationship the percentageof 1068 of each of these constituents in cultivated areas as compared withv1r1rln conditions 18 shown in Table n. An average of the thirty sollB studiedshows total phosphorus lost through cultivation to be 21.61 percent as com­pared to 19.19 percent of the organic phosphorus lost. The amount of nitrogenlost. however, does not present such a" close re1ationsh1p. The analyses showthat in 8& percent of the sollB studied, the percentage of nitrogen lost throughcultivation was appreciably higher than that of organic phosphorus. Theaverage for all the sollB shows that 3UK percent of the nitrogen was lost,as compared to the afore-mentioned figure of 19.19 percent for the organicphosphorus. These figUres are stgnlflcant in that they abow the nitrogencompounds in the soU are more rapidly decomposed and more quickly utl11zedthan the organIc phosphorus compounds. They are also siInlflcant in thatthey show that the phosphorus reserve in the soU 18 not being expendedas rapidly 88 the n1tropn reserve.

~ 01 OrgGnie P1&oaph.on&a to NftTOge- aM to organic JlfItUr mVfrgfA aM CUltivcIted Solla

8lnce. aa previouslY pointed out, the nitrogen compounds of the 1011 aredecoJl1l)Ol1Da at a bilher rate than the orpnlc phosphorus compounds. It nat-­uraU1 followa that the ratto of Orpnlc phosphorus to nitrogen would lncreUeu lOlls are culttvated. The ratto of organic phosphorus to nitrocen aDd to totaloraanto matter are shown in Table m. The ratto of organic phosphorus toD1Wopn was found to vary from 1:8.1 to 1:28.1 in the vtre1n solla aDd froml:U to 1:21.1 1D the culttftoted aoiJa. In 80 percent of the eoUa the ratio oforpD1c pboIpborua to D1tropn~ til the culUftot.ed 80IL The ratio of

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erce

nt

InC

Ult

ivat

ed8O

lla.

AOADEMY OP 8OIENOB FOR 1047

o.rgan1c phosphorus to oqranlc matter varies from 1:132 to 1.M2 in the virIInso1l8 and from 1:102 to 1:431 in the cultivated soilB.

Other investigators 'Who have studied ratios of orp.n1c phosphorua to nitro­gen and to organic matter in soils have also found Wide variation between soUtypes. Auten (1921) found the ratios of organic phosphorus to nitrogen tovary from 1:8 to 1:24, whlle Pearson and Simonson (UKO) found these ratios tovary from 1:7 to 1:11 in Iowa solls.

All of the investigation shows that the abundance of organic phosphorusvaries less relative to that of nitrogen than to that of organic matter.

TABLE n

Percentages 01 total phosphorus, organic phosphorul, andnUrogen lost through cultivation

Percent, total Percent, organic Percentphosphorus phosphorus nitrogen

sample Type of lost through lost through lost througbnumber soila cultivation cultivation cultivation

8148,47 Parsons vfsl 12.5 21.1 28.03,4 Grant vfsl 28.6 12.1 36.85,6 Pond Creek sil 28.0 27.4 38.47,8 Pratt !fs 20.0 33.3 41.6

9,10 Foard sicl 23.9 16.6 26.819,20 Durant cl 29.8 16.1 1.721,22 Newtonia vfsl 39.4 41.9 "5.723,24 Denton cl 22.6 20.8 32.925,26 Summit aU 14.3 17.6 15.729,30 Tillman cl 37.7 13.3 32.733,34 Holllster sU 17.1 10.3 5.835,36 Tillman sU 25.0 23.3 37.737,38 Oswego sU 25.4 30.4 43.039,40 Kirkland sU 27.0 24.0 23.841,42 Renfro sU 35.0 48.3 43.243,44 Vernon vfsl 28.4 23.9 43.545,46 Vanoss sU 35.6 14.3 36.347,48 Summit cl 23.3 30.0 37.849,50 Norge sil 38.6 30.4 43.251,52 Labette sicl 15.3 8.7 30.'153,54 Canadian fsl 2.0 3.7 31.655,56 Polo loam 15.4 10.7 33.357,58 otoe clay 8.1 0.0 &.369,60 Labette aU 7.5 9.1 30.961,62 Labette cl 21.9 0.0 36.0

2341,42 Richfield sil 15.3 55.1 40.53991,92 Parsons vfsl 6.3 0.0 8.33975,7& Bates vfsl 7.9 3.6 30.84281,84 YahoIa 17.1 28.6 &0.08363,64 Mlller cl 20.0 1.0 23.38148,47 Parsons vfal 12.5 21.1 28.0

Averages 21.61 19.18 3UM

-Pur me&D1D8 of QJDbolll Me footno~ a. Table 1.

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1:19

11

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1:_

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731

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1:28

51:

277

1:11

81:

442

1:34

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3,4

6,8

7.B

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18,2

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213

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61

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91:

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8.9

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12.9

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10.0

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91:

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186

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198

1:21

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178

1:19

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1:32

91:

310

1:19

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266

1:27

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436

1:45

71:

238

1:40

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297

1:35

31:

201

1:30

91:

260

1:10

21:

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1:18

31:

171

I:.

1:18

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180

1:14

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1:19

71:

178

1:13

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202

1:28

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338

1:28

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218

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81:

178

1:22

0

I ~ i ~ E

AOADDIY OP 8CIBNOJI lOR 1M.,

DI8TRJBlJT.tON OP ORGANIC PBOSPBOR'OSIN TBRBB VIRGIN SOIL PROPILBS

SOU samples were taken at varying depths to " inches from OIWeIQ, New­tonla. and Bowie soli types for a study of the cUstrtbutton of orpnlc phosphorusin the protne. The ana1)'s1s of the three sons (Table IV> shows that the Per­centages of organic phosphorus down through the Oswego and Newtonta proftl.are relatively constant below the surface inch to depths of 24 and 18 incbel re­spectively. whereas the percentage of organic phosphorus in the Bowie proftledrops from 60 percent in the surface inch to 13 percent in the lo-18-inch layer.This cUfference in the three son types may part1a1ly be exp1a1ned by the factthat the Oswego and Newtonia were developed under grass whfie the BowIe, acoastal-pla1nB type. was developed under timber.

The organic phosphorus made up about 45 percent of the total phosphorusin the Oswego profne. 35 percent in the Newtonia profne. and about 30 percentin the Bowie profne.

The general trends of the ratios of the orpn1c phosphorus to nitrogen inthe Oswego and Newtonia solls are s1mllar in that the ratios increase withdepth. however. the converse is true in the BoWie prome where the ratio de­creases With depth. Fig. 1 shows graphically the dJstrlbutions of organic phos­phorus and nitrogen in the profiles where concentration is plotted agalnatdepth. It is readlly seen from these graphs that the distributions of nitrogenand organic phosphorus in the sol1 proflles follow nearly parallel patterns.

DISCUSSIONIn the surface layers of many solls. 15 to 85 percent of the phosphorus

has been found to be organic. Many of the solls in wblch the concentrationof organic phosphorus Is blgh are very deficient in available inorganic phos­phorus as determined by extraction with dllute acids.

When organic matter Is incorporated in soU. a rapid decomposition en­sues through the action of fungi and bacteria. After the utllization of mostof the easlly decomposed energy material. such as hemicellulose and cellu­lose. bacter1al decomposition becomes dominant. Thus organic phosphorusin the soU may originate from the organic residues added to soU. and a1Iothrough synthesis by micro-organisms.

The stabWty of the organic phosphorus like that of the organic mattershould probably be regarded as relative rather than absolute. and the sub­stance should gradually become avaUable through decompoa1tlon. The datapresented in tbls study indicate that soll conditions lnfluence the degreeof accumulation to a considerable extent. Acid solls Usually contain a b18herproportion of organic phosphorus t.ban the neutral or calcareous lOlls. Thetype of vegetation under which soU is developed would no doubt lntluencethe rate ot accumulation.

01'9Q.r\i C. P~OSP"D"'U.$ rr"'"o IjO 100 'so 200 0 !fO 100 ISO 200 ;-O 50_~,.;_......,..,

...........0

0

('Def1h "1Wl.

Inch~s 2'1 05141.9° Newton;0.1 0. . 0.1 0. a~

Percent4,e 0 nitYO,ell

PIg. 1. DJatrlbUtloDs of .OrPD1C phosphorus (1011d UDes) aDd DltropD(broteil 11De8) in prof11es of three v1rI1D soDa, D&melY. oawCo lilt loam,Newtonia Yf!r7 tJne aaDd7 loam. aDd Bowie Ver7 fIDe I&Dd1 louL

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1.

AOAI)DCY 0. SODNOJIPOR IN'I

~ of vlrIIn aDd' cultlftted-80UB ~er a wtde raDae of CODdI1ilCIIaIIJidlcate that the orrrantc phosphorus compounda are belDI decompOlld aDdlest from tile lOll at a lower rate than the lDorIaDlc pbospbatel.

There t8 considerable opinion expressed in the uterature that orpzdcphosphorus compounds such as pbytin, accumulate In the son, tbrouIb tIl­teraet10n With aeaqutoxlde constttuents. SUch compounds would DO doubtbe quite resistant to enzymatic nydrolysls. The partial dephoaphOQ1atlollof pbyt1D may produce phosphoric esters of inosltol, accordlnl to Bower<lM6). There is no evidence reprdlng the relative stabWty of theM com­pounds In the soD, but It is possible that they account for a stanlflcant partof the organic phosphorus.

The posstbWty exists. therefore. that other phosphorus compoundl, yetuntdentlfled In soUs, occur and become avallable for plant UI8 as the 1011of organic phosphorus in cultivated so118 indicates.

SUMMARY

Virgin and cultivated samples of thirty soU types occurring In Oklahomawere analyzed for organic phosphorus. The Organic phosphorus content ofthese samples varied from 30 to 113 ppm In the surface alx-Inch depth ofsoU. The vtrg1n so118 averaged 114 ppm as compared to 92 ppm in the culti­vated soils. The organic phosphorus averaged 46 percent of all the phce­phorus In the soU, with the average In the v1rg1n 80118 be1nI aUghtly l_and that In the cultivated so118 sUghtly more.

In prome studies the proportion of organic phosphorus was found tobe fairly constant In the Oswego and Newtonia types. These 80118 averaged45 and 35 percent from the surface to a 24-Inch depth. In the Bowle sonthe proportion of organic phosphorus dropped from 70 percent in the sur­face Inch to 13 percent in the 10-to-18-inch layer.

The ratio of organic phosphorus to nitrogen varied from 1:6 to 1:28 andwas greater In the cultivated so118 as was expected. The ratio of orpnlcphosphorus to organic matter was less regular than that of orp.n1c phos­phorus to nitrogen; It varied from 1:102 to 1:642.

The data presented herein establtah the presence of large quantities oforganic phosphorus in Oklahoma soUs, wh1ch are befng utWzecl by plantsat a rate about equal to that of 1norgan1c phosphorus.

LITERATURE OITED

Alto, It. 1904. O1'gaD1c compounds of phosphorus In soDa. Bull. con. Allie.Tokio Imp. Unlv. 6: m-284.

Auten, J. T. 1921. The orpn1c phcephorua ,content of IOD18 Iowa ICIOI.eou Be. 13: 117-124-

Auten. J. T. 1923. ()rgan1c phosphorus of so11l. eou So. 16: 281-2M.Bower, C. A. 1945. 8eparation and Identification of pbytln and 1tI deriva­

tives from so118. SOU So. 59: m-286.Dean; L. A. 1938. An attempted fracttonatton of the IOU pbolphorul. J.

Agrtc. SC. 2': 234-244.DIckman, 8. a. and E. B. DeTurk. 1938. A JDethod for the determJDatIaD

of the organic pbosphorus of I01l8. SOU 80. 46: 29..39.DJer. W. J .• C. L. W'reDaball. and O. R. 8mlth. UNO. The IIoIattoD of

phyttn from 8Oll. 8clenee It: 319-aG.Dyer. W. J., and O. L. 'WreDIhaD. IMI. 0!PDlC pboIpborUI In lOBI: ;L

The atractton aDd eeparatlon at 0J'I&IliC phoilphorua COJDPOUDd8 fromson. Soil So. 51: 1&9-1'10.

Praps, O. S. 1fll. ()rpnjc pbospborua acid of 1OIl8. BUD. '1'a.~JbpL 8ta. 131: 1-32.

Beet. A. P., aDd A. L. WbWDI. 1m. The "'mOMkID of .pbnIpbcmIa ffGOl~ IW red c1oftr. 80D So. . 24: 1'7... .

:.........-..."... ' . ". o~o.. aDd J. B. -PettIt.. '1808. 'DIe terUUty ID. IDIDoJ8 8DI1L BuD.";DL~ Ibpt. eta. 123: __208•

...,;W~ P. U1I. The biochemical decompCNdt1on of Dltorosenoaa sub­': .' .... In IOUI. BUll Ha"aIi Agr1c. EKpt. sta. 3': 1-26.~,' W. T., and J. T. Breazeale. 1932. 8tuc:Uea on troD, a1umJn~

, aDd orp.nlc pboIphates and phosphate fixation In calcareous II01l&. Tech. BulL Ariz. Agrtc. Expt. Sta. 40: &9-111.

1Iidder," 11'4. Uber die BeltandtbeUe der Actererde. J. Pratt. Obem.32: nee

Jfeub6Ui1r, B. 1933. Versuche nach der Ke1mpflonRDm ethode tiber dent1Dtenchetd der Autnehmbort.eit UDd organJscher Pbosphorformen.1ADdw1rtIcb. Veri. Sta. 114: 225-294.

0Cb'DIkJ, W. 1938. SolubWty and d1atrlbution of phosphorus In Alberta101Ja. sc. Agrtc. 16: 652-664.

PeaJ'Ion, R. W. 1940. A procedure tor the determination of organic phos­phorus In lO11s. Indust. and EngIn. Chem., Anal. Ed. 12: 198-200.~, R. W., and R. W. Simonson. 1940. Organic phosphorus In seven

10". IOU profUea: dtBtrtbutlon and amounts as compared to organiccarbon and nitrogen. Proc. SoU Be. Soc. Am. 4: 162-167.

PIerre, W. A., and P. W. Parker. 1927. SoU phosphorous studies: U. Theconcentration of inorganic and organic phosphorus in the soU solutionand IOU extracts and the avatlabwty of the organic phosphorus toplante. SOU Sc. 24: 119-128.

PUmmer, R. H. A . 1913. The metaboUam of organic phosphorus compounds.Their hydrolysis by the action of enzymes. J. Blochem. 7: 43-71.

Potter, R. 8., and T. H. Benton. 1916. The organlc phosphorus of soU.SOU &C. 2: 291-298.

8cbollenbeJ'ger, O. J. 1918. Organlc phosphorus of soU. Experimental worton methods for extraction on determination. SOU Be. 6: 365-395.

SCbollenberger, O. J. 1920. Organic phosphorus content of Ohio solla. SOU80. 10: 12'7-141.

&belton, W. R., and H. J. Harper. 1941. A rapid method for the determ1n­at10n of total phosphorus in soU and plant materlal. Iowa State 0011.J. Se. 15: 403-413.

SbON1, B. O. 1912. Nucleic aclda In soils. 8c1ence 35: 390.Shorey, B. O. 1913. Some organic soU constituents. Bull. Bureau S01J.s,

U. S. Dept. Agrlc. 88: 27-30.Spencer, V. Eo, and R. Stewart. 1934. Phosphate studies: I. SoU pene­

tration of BODle organic and inorganic phosphates. SoU Be. 38: 65-79.stewart, R. 1910. Quantitative relationship of carbon, phosphorua, and

nltro(ren in soUa. Bull. m. Agrlc. Expt. eta. 145: 98-103.'1'I"ouI, B.. and A. H. Meyers. 1929. Improvements In the Denlgea' colori­

metric method for phosphorus and arsenic. Indust. and EDgtn. Ohem.,ADal. Ed. 1: 138-139.

WhttIDI, A. L., and A. P. Hect. 1926. The ustmntatlon of pbospho1'U8 frompbyttn by oats. SOU &C. 22: 47'1.

Wrenabal1, O. L., and R. R. McK1bben. 1938. Pasture studies: XIII. The_\Ure of the araantc pb~ 1n aoUa. Canacl. J. Reaearch I5B:."''''19. .

\lVreDIhal, O. Lo, and W. J. Dyer. 1_. A method for the determlnatlon at'<'orpn1c l)bosDborus In solla and _8011 extracts. C&nad. J. Reaearch. - Jf.: 191-:10&. -~,O. L.. aDd W. J. Dyer. UKt. OqanIc-pboepborus In aotJa: D­c' ..Tbe nature of orpn1c phosphorus compounds. A. Nucleic acld de­..\.1ttaUYes. B. Phytin. Boll sc. 51: __-..~ a. It. lMO. studtes an arpnlc phospbarus compounds in 8DUs;:. '·...-u0ll of lDosttoi. SoU se. SlJ: .1....