10 pp. / Phosphorus is the primary fertilizer nutrient needed by alfalfa in Arizona. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of P fertilizer rate on alfalfa yield and soil test P. A phosphorus fertilizer rate study was conducted with alfalfa in Buckeye, AZ where 11-52-0 was applied at 0, 200, 400, and 800 lb fertilizer/acre in February, 2014 after the first cutting. Alfalfa hay yield was increased by phosphorus fertilizer application up to the cutting on July 30, but not thereafter. No differences in yield were found among the fertilizer rates of 200,400, and 800 lb 11-52-0/acre. Soil test phosphorus increased directly proportional to fertilizer rate, but eventually decreased close to deficient levels 3-5 months after fertilizer application. It is not known if additional fertilizer applications throughout the season would increase yield. Fertilizer rates higher than 200 lb 11-52-0/acre were not beneficial under the conditions of this study.

La déficience des sols en éléments minéraux, particulièrement le phosphore (P) est une limitation majeure pour la croissance et le développement des légumineuses fixatrices d’azote. L’application des fertilisants phosphatés est une pratique traditionnelles pour satisfaire les besoins des plantes en P. Ainsi, pour tester l’efficacité d'utilisation du P pour la fixation symbiotique de l’azote (FSN) sous déficience en P, plusieurs lignées recombinantes (RILs) de haricot contrastantes dans leurs tolérance au déficit en P ont été utilisées. L’objectif principal de cette étude est d’évaluer l’aptitude de ces RILs pour l’amélioration de la fertilité phosphatée des sols déficients en P et sa relation avec la croissance et la nodulation de la légumineuse. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, des expériences ont été réalisées sous serre et en champs d'agriculteurs. Sous conditions contrôlées (serre) et non contrôlées (champs), les résultats ont montré une diminution du pH des sols associée à une augmentation du P assimilable. Une telle augmentation de la disponibilité du P a eu un effet positif sur la nodulation et la croissance de certaines des RILs testées. Aussi, l’amélioration de l’aptitude de ces RILs à fixer l’azote atmosphérique et l’élévation de la libération des protons H+ par les racines nodulées ont été quantifiés en milieu contrôlé. Ainsi la diminution du pH du sol a permis de réduire l’indisponibilité du P dans la solution du sol en le transformant en une forme directement biodisponible pour ces plantes. En outre, les résultats ont montré des différences significatives entre les différentes RILs en termes de la biomasse aérienne et nodulaire selon les sites d'observation. Nous concluons que, outre leur aptitude de fixation d’azote, l’utilisation efficace du phosphore pour sauver des engrais minéraux et de réduire les risques de pollution et pourrait améliorer la disponibilité des sols P. / The deficiency of soil minerals, particularly phosphorus (P) is a major limitation for growth and development of nitrogen-fixing by legumes. The application of phosphate fertilizers is a traditional practice to meet the needs of plant P. Thus, to test the effectiveness of use of P for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (NSF) under P deficiency, several recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of beans in their contrasting tolerance to P deficiency have been used. The main objective of this study is to assess the ability of these RILs to improve the fertility of soils deficient in phosphorus (P) and its relationship with growth and nodulation of the legume. To achieve these objectives, some experiments were conducted in greenhouses and fields. Under controlled conditions (greenhouse) and uncontrolled conditions (field), the results showed decreasing in soil pH associated with Proton release H+ and P acquisition. The increasing in available P had a positive effect on nodulation and growth of some RILs tested. Also, improving the ability of these RILs to fix atmospheric nitrogen and release H+ by nodulated roots were quantified in a controlled environment. Thus the decreasing in soil pH has reduced the un-availability of P in soil solution by transforming it into a bio-available form to the plants. In addition, the results showed significant differences between RILs in biomass and nodulation as observation in sites. We conclude that, in addition to their ability to fix nitrogen, effective use of phosphorus to save mineral fertilizer and reduce the pollution risks and could improve the availability of soil P.

Phosphor (P) ist ein für alles Leben notwendiges essentielles Nährelement. Die heutige globalisierte und intensivierte agrarische Produktion benötigt daher die Anwendung großer Mengen Phosphatgesteins, welches eine endliche Ressource darstellt. Gleichzeitig ist der intensive P Gebrauch mit der Eutrophierung von Gewässern verbunden. Es besteht daher Forschungsbedarf um die landwirtschaftliche Produktion zu erhalten. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die in der Region Berlin-Brandenburg nach Ansatzpunkten für ein verbessertes P Management zu suchen. Hierfür wurde für 2011 eine Substanzflussanalyse (SFA) für P erstellt und Pflanzenproduktion der Jahre 2005-2012 genauer untersucht. Mit Hilfe einer Briefumfrage wurde Daten von 119 Bauernhöfen ausgewertet und mit dem pflanzenverfügbaren P Gehalt (PVP) der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzfläche abgeglichen (LNF). Im Ergebnis zeigt sich für die Region eine negative P Bilanz der LNF(-3.617 t P) und ein hohes Recyclingpotential in Abfall (933 t P) und Abwasser (3.921 t P). P in mineralischen Düngemitteln belief sich auf 4.447 t. Der Gesamtentzug über die Ernte ohne Stroh betrug 15.283 t P und war vergleichbar zu 2006, das Jahr des geringsten P-Entzugs. P-Entzug durch die Ernte schwankte um 7.069 t P/a von 2005 bis 2013, abhängig vom Ertrag der Hauptfeldfrüchte, welche durch die Wetter- und Bodenbedingungen bestimmt wurde. Hieraus ergeben sich mögliche Konsequenzen für P-Flüsse in Bezug auf den Klimawandel, die an den Wasserhaushalt und die Temperatur gekoppelt sind. Die Analyse der Umfrage ergab, dass die kleinen und mittgroßen Einzelunternehmen höhere PVP Werte in der LNF aufwiesen. Die größeren Unternehmensformen regierten empfindlich auf Faktoren, die niedrige PVP-Werte begünstigten. Pacht, Grünland, extensive Rinderhaltung, und viehlose ökologische Landwirtschaft waren mit niedrigen PVP-Werten assoziiert. Biogasanlagen und intensive Tierhaltung, zum Teil auch in Kombination miteinander standen im Zusammenhang mit hohen PVP-Werten. / Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for all life on earth and it is thus needed in agricultural production. Today’s globalized and intensified agricultural production has led to the dependency on P inputs which are fed by phosphate rock, being a finite resource. In contrast, excessive P is a major driver in eutrophication. To sustain agricultural production, there is a need to address this problem. The aim of this thesis was to identify points at which P management could be improved for the region Berlin-Brandenburg. To analyze the system and screen for improvement, a substance flow analysis (SFA) for P for the year 2011 was compiled and for crop production the years 2005-2012 were analyzed. Also, data from 119 farms was obtained by a letter survey and relations between farm structural factors and soil test P (STP) were drawn. The results showed a negative balance for agricultural soils (-3,617 t P) and a considerable recycling potential in waste (933 t P) and wastewater (3,921 t P). Mineral fertilizer inputs amounted to 4,447 t P. P removal by crops was 15,283 t without straw and residues, being almost as low as in 2006; the year with the lowest removal by main crops. P removal by harvest varied significantly (7,069 t P/yr from 2005 to 2013) and depended on the performance of main crops which in turn is influenced by weather and soil. As a result of this, climate change may interact significantly with P flows in agriculture. Here, important variables are connected to conditions in P uptake and plant growth in general (e.g. water supply and temperature). The analyses of farms in the region showed that individual farms of small to medium size had more land with (very) high STP. Larger partnerships and companies/cooperatives were susceptible to factors causing low STP. Tenancy, grassland, extensive cattle and stockless organic farming had a lowering effect on STP. Biogas plants and intensive (cattle) farming, partly combined, were connected to a rise in STP.

Le recyclage des résidus organiques (RO) en agriculture pourrait permettre de limiter l’utilisation des ressources minérales de phosphore (P), à condition de déterminer leur efficacité pour fournir du P aux cultures. L’objectif de ce travail était donc d’étudier les mécanismes déterminant l’effet des RO apportés au sol sur la biodisponibilité du P pour la plante (phytodisponibilité). Ce travail a été basé sur cinq essais de terrain à La Réunion, fertilisés sur une décennie avec des fertilisants organiques ou minéraux, et sur des expérimentations d’incubations en conditions contrôlées et de cultures de plantes en pot. Le P inorganique (Pi) et organique (Po) disponible du sol a été déterminé par des extractions (eau, Olsen), la technique des diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) et la dilution isotopique associée à des membranes échangeuses d’ions. La capacité de sorption en Pi des sols a été évaluée avec des courbes de sorption. Le P phytodisponible a été déterminé en mesurant le P prélevé par la plante. Dans les différents types de sol (andosol, andique cambisol, nitisol et arenosol), l’apport de RO a augmenté le Pi disponible relativement au Po, suggérant que la minéralisation du Po issu des RO n’est pas un facteur limitant la disponibilité du Pi. Les RO ont augmenté le Pi disponible principalement par l’augmentation du pH du sol et par conséquent la diminution de sa capacité de sorption de Pi. Le P phytodisponible a augmenté avec le Pi disponible du sol, mais a diminué avec l’augmentation du pH du sol. Au-delà de la dose de P, l’effet de l’apport de RO à long-terme sur la phytodisponibilité du P semble principalement contrôlé par l’évolution induite du pH du sol. / Application of organic residues (OR) on agricultural soils could reduce the use of mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizers, but this implies to determine the efficiency of OR to meet crop requirements. We thus aimed to study mechanisms determining the effects of OR on P bioavailability to plants (phytoavailability). Our work was based on five field trials with decadal organic or mineral fertilization located in Réunion island, and on incubations and plant growth experiments under controlled conditions. Available inorganic P (Pi) and organic P (Po) was determined using extractions (water, Olsen), the diffusive gradients in thin films technique (DGT) and the isotopic dilution associated to anion exchange membranes (EAEM). Phytoavailable P was determined as the plant P uptake. Soil Pi sorption capacity was determined using sorption curves. For all soil types studied (andosol, andic cambisol, nitisol, and arenosol), RO increased mainly available Pi and had few effects on available Po, which suggests that mineralization of Po applied with RO does not limit Pi availability. Application of RO increased available Pi mainly by increasing soil pH and consequently by decreasing soil Pi sorption capacity. Phytoavailable P increased with soil available Pi, but decreased with increasing soil pH. Our work suggests that except the dose of P applied, effect of RO on P phytoavailability depends mainly on soil pH changes induced.

Soil P fractionation was used to examine changes in soil inorganic and organic P under grazed irrigated pasture in a long-term field trial at Winchmore in Mid-Canterbury. The soil P fractionation scheme used involved sequential extractions of soil with O.5M NaHCO₃ @ pH 8.5 (NaHCO₃ P), 0.1M NaOH (NaOH I P), 1M HCl (HCl P) and 0.1M NaOH (NaOH II P). The Winchmore trial comprised 5 treatments: control (no P since 1952), 376R (376 kg superphosphate ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ 1952-1957, none since), 564R (564 kg superphosphate ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ 1952-1957, none since) 188PA (188 kg superphosphate ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ since 1952) and 376PA (376 kg superphosphate ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ since 1952: Topsoil (0-7.5cm) samples taken from the different treatments in 1958, 1961, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1974 and 1977 were used in this study. Changes in soil P with time showed that significant increases in soil inorganic P occurred in the annually fertilised treatments (l88PA, 376PA). As expected, the overall increase in total soil inorganic P between 1958 and 1977 was greater in the 376PA treatment (159 µg P g⁻¹) than that in the 188PA treatment (37 µg P g⁻¹). However, the chemical forms of inorganic P which accumulated in the annually fertilised treatments changed with time. Between 1958 and 1971 most of the increases in soil inorganic P in these treatments occurred in the NaHCO₃ and NaOH I P fractions. On the other hand, increases in soil inorganic P in the annually fertilised treatments between 1971 and 1977 were found mainly in the HCl and NaOH II P fractions. These changes in soil P forms were attributed to the combined effects of lime addition in 1972 and increased amounts of sparingly soluble apatite P and iron-aluminium P in the single superphosphate applied during the 1970's. In the residual fertiliser treatments (376R, 564R) significant decreases in all of the soil inorganic P fractions (i.e. NaHCO₃ P, NaOH I P, HCl P, NaOH II p) occurred between 1958 and 1977 following the cessation of P fertiliser inputs in 1957. This was attributed to continued plant uptake of P accumulated in the soil from earlier P fertiliser additions. However, levels of inorganic P in the different soil P fractions in the residual fertiliser treatments did not decline to those in the control which indicated that some of the inorganic P accumulated in the soil from P fertiliser applied between 1952 and 1957 was present in very stable forms. In all treatments, significant increases in soil organic P occurred between 1958 and 1971. The overall increases in total soil organic P were greater in the annually fertilised treatments (70-86 µg P g⁻¹) than those in the residual fertiliser (55-64 µg P g⁻¹) and control (34 µg P g⁻¹) treatments which reflected the respective levels of pasture production in the different treatments. These increases in soil organic P were attributed to the biological conversion of native and fertiliser inorganic P to organic P in the soil via plant, animal and microbial residues. The results also showed that annual rates of soil organic P accumulation between 1958 and 1971 decreased with time which indicated that steady-state conditions with regard to net 'organic P accumulation were being reached. In the residual fertiliser treatments, soil organic P continued to increase between 1958 and 1971 while levels of soil inorganic P and pasture production declined. This indicated that organic P which accumulated in soil from P fertiliser additions was more stable and less available to plants than inorganic forms of soil P. Between 1971 and 1974 small (10-38 µg P g⁻¹) but significant decreases in total soil organic P occurred in all treatments. This was attributed to increased mineralisation of soil organic P as a result of lime (4 t ha⁻¹) applied to the trial in 1972 and also to the observed cessation of further net soil organic P accumulation after 1971. Liming also appeared to affect the chemical nature of soil organic P as shown by the large decreases in NaOH I organic P(78-88 µg P g⁻¹) and concomitant smaller increases in NaOH II organic P (53-65 µg P g⁻¹) which occurred in all treatments between 1971 and 1974. The chemical nature of soil organic P in the Winchmore long-term trial was also investigated using 31p nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and gel filtration chromatography. This involved quantitative extraction of organic P from the soil by sequential extraction with 0.1M NaOH, 0.2M aqueous acetylacetone (pH 8.3) and 0.5M NaOH following which the extracts were concentrated by ultrafiltration. Soils (0-7.5cm) taken from the control and 376PA annually fertilised treatments in 1958, 1971 and 1983 were used in this study. 31p NMR analysis showed that most (88-94%) of the organic P in the Winchmore soils was present as orthophosphate monoester P while the remainder was found as orthophosphate diester and pyrophosphate P. Orthophosphate monoester P also made up almost all of the soil organic P which accumulated in the 376PA treatment between 1958 and 1971. This indicated that soil organic P in the 376PA and control treatments was very stable. The gel filtration studies using Sephadex G-100 showed that most (61-83%) of the soil organic P in the control and 376PA treatments was present in the low molecular weight forms (<100,000 MW), although the proportion of soil organic P in high molecular weight forms (>100,000 MW) increased from 17-19% in 1958 to 38-39% in 1983. The latter was attributed to the microbial humification of organic P and indicated a shift toward more complex and possibly more stable forms of organic P in the soil with time. Assuming that the difference in soil organic P between the control and 376PA soils sampled in 1971 and 1983 represented the organic P derived from P fertiliser additions, results showed that this soil organic P was evenly distributed between the high and low molecular weight fractions. An exhaustive pot trial was used to examine the relative availability to plants of different forms of soil inorganic and organic P in long-term fertilised pasture soils. This involved growing 3 successive crops of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) in 3 Lismore silt loam (Udic Ustochrept) soils which had received different amounts of P fertiliser for many years. Two of the soils were taken from the annually fertilised treatments in the Winchmore long term trial (188PA, 376PA) and the third (Fairton) was taken from a pasture which had been irrigated with meatworks effluent for over 80 years (65 kg P ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Each soil was subjected to 3 treatments, namely control (no nutrients added), N100 and N200. The latter treatments involved adding complete nutrient solutions with different quantities of N at rates of 100kg N ha⁻¹ (N100) and 200kg N ha⁻¹ (N200) on an area basis. The soil P fractionation scheme used was the same as that used in the Winchmore long-term trial study (i.e. NaHCO₃ P, NaOH I P, HCl P, NaOH II p). Results obtained showed that the availability to plants of different extracted inorganic P fractions, as measured by decreases in P fractions before and after 3 successive crops, followed the order: NaHCO₃ P > NaOH I P > HCl P = NaOH II P. Overall decreases in the NaHCO₃ and NaOH I inorganic P fractions were 34% and 16% respectively, while corresponding decreases in the HCl and NaOH II inorganic P fractions were small «10%) and not significant. However, a significant decrease in HCl P (16%) was observed in one soil (Fairton-N200 treatment) which was attributed to the significant decrease in soil pH (from 6.2 to 5.1) which occurred after successive cropping. Successive cropping had little or no effect on the levels of P in the different soil organic P fractions. This indicated that net soil organic P mineralisation did not contribute significantly to plant P uptake over the short-term. A short-term field experiment was also conducted to examine the effects of different soil management practices on the availability of different forms of P to plants in the long-term fertilised pasture soils. The trial was sited on selected plots of the existing annually fertilised treatments in the Winchmore long-term trial (188PA, 376PA) and comprised 5 treatments: control, 2 rates of lime (2 and 4 t ha⁻¹ ) , urea fertiliser (400kg N ha⁻¹ ) and mechanical cultivation. The above ground herbage in the uncultivated treatments was harvested on 11 occasions over a 2 year period and at each harvest topsoil (0-7.5 cm) samples were taken from all of the treatments for P analysis. The soil P fractionation scheme used in this particular trial involved sequential extractions with 0.5M NaHCO₃ @ pH 8.5 (NaHCO₃ P), 0.1M NaOH (NaOH P), ultrasonification with 0.1M NaOH (sonicate-NaOH p) and 1M HCl (HCl P). In addition, amounts of microbial P in the soils were determined. The results showed that liming resulted in small (10-21 µg P g⁻¹) though significant decreases in the NaOH soil organic P fraction in the 188PA and 376PA plots. Levels of soil microbial P were also found to be greater in the limed treatments compared with those in the controls. These results indicated that liming increased the microbial mineralisation of soil organic P in the Winchmore soils. However, pasture dry matter yields and P uptake were not significantly affected. Although urea significantly increased dry matter yields and P uptake, it did not appear to significantly affect amounts of P in the different soil P fractions. Mechanical cultivation and the subsequent fallow period (18 months) resulted in significant increases in amounts of P in the NaHCO₃ and NaOH inorganic P fractions. This was attributed to P released from the microbial decomposition of plant residues, although the absence of plants significantly reduced levels of microbial P in the cultivated soils. Practical implications of the results obtained in the present study were presented and discussed.