The efficiency of phosphorus extractants for a soil treated with phosphatic fertilizers and cultivated to rice

Abstract

In order to assess the efficiency of several extracting procedures for soil phosphorus a pot experiment was carried out using a Red Yellow Latosol. Previously two successive croppings had been made, P fertilizers being applied only in the first one. The following products were used at the rates of 50 and 150 mg.kg-1 soil: Yoorin (thermo-phosphate), "Fosmag", Araxa and Gafsa rock phosphates. Mehlich-1, Bray-1, anion exchange resin, and isotopic dilution ("E" value) methods were used as extracting procedures of available soil-P. The closest correlations between soil - P and either dry matter yield or phosphorus taken up by the rice plant were found with Bray-1 (r = 0.92) and resin (r = 0.91). Phosphorus determined by Mehlich-1 extracting solution showed high correlation with plant parameters (r = 0.96) only when the Araxa rock phosphate treatments were excluded from the calculation. High correlations (r = 0.98) were found between the values corresponding to Bray-1 and resin methods.