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A five-year P fertilization pot trial for wheat only in a rice-wheat rotation of Chinese paddy soil: interaction of P availability and microorganism

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Abstract

Background and aims

The need for efficient use of phosphorus (P) in agriculture has been highlighted recently by concerns about the finite amount of P fertilizer resources. However, in the Taihu Lake Region (TLR) of China, farmers’ injudicious and excessive use of P fertilizer has led to a dramatic spike in P accumulation.

Methods

A five-year (ten consecutive crop seasons) pot experiment was conducted using four paddy soils with three P concentrations (2 P-rich, 1 P-moderate, and 1 P-deficient soils) from the TLR under four P fertilization regimes: P fertilization only for the wheat season (PW), P fertilization only for rice season (PR), P fertilization for both rice and wheat seasons (PR + W), and no P fertilization during either season (Pzero; control).

Results

Over 5 years, compared to the PR + W treatment, the PW treatment did not decrease crop yield (P < 0.05) because it could supply enough available P sources (124–210 mg kg-1 labile P and moderately labile P) for crop growth and similar microorganism community composition. Also, compared to the Pzero treatment, applied P fertilization significantly increased the concentration of labile P and moderately labile P. Additionally, applied P fertilization decreased acid phosphatase enzyme activity and increased the total relative abundance of microorganisms significantly in P-rich soil, although they decreased in P-deficient soil. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) showed significant positive correlations with soil labile P (P < 0.05), which indicated that AMF played important roles in the transformation of P in the soil P pool.

Conclusions

P fertilizer applied only for the wheat season may be a viable option for saving P fertilizer and sustaining crop yields in the current rice-wheat rotated system of China, and effective utilization of AMF which are related to P availability in the soil will be important in the future reasearch.

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Acknowledgments

We especially thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that have greatly improved the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB15020402), the Chinese National Basic Research Program (No. 2015CB150403), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21307141, No. 41401336), and the Special S&T Project on Treatment and Control of Water Pollution (No. 2012ZX07101-004).

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Correspondence to Shenqiang Wang.

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Wang, Y., Zhao, X., Wang, L. et al. A five-year P fertilization pot trial for wheat only in a rice-wheat rotation of Chinese paddy soil: interaction of P availability and microorganism. Plant Soil 399, 305–318 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2681-4

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