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Phosphorus status and cycling in native savanna and improved pastures on an acid low-P Colombian Oxisol

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Abstract

On acid low-phosphorus (P) Colombian Oxisols, improved pastures with acid-soil-tolerant grass and legume varieties have increased beef production by a factor of 10 to 15 with only modest P fertilizer inputs. This indicates that the efficiency of P fertilization could be greater than is commonly expected on such strongly P-sorbing soils. To understand the effect of improved pastures on P cycling and availability, we estimated P budgets, and characterized soil P by sequential fractionation, isotopic exchange and biological activity measurements on soil samples from unfertilized native savanna, and fertilized improved grass-only (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk) and grass-legume (B. decumbens + Pueraria phaseoloides, Kudzu) pastures established in 1978 on a medium-textured isohyperthermic, tropeptic haplustox. Comparison of calculated P budgets, based on inputs and exports, with total soil P contents showed that fertilization, as part of the improved pasture management, had resulted in a measurable increase of total P in the surface 0–20 cm soil layer of nearly 30 mg kg-1 or about 20% over the savanna level. Sequential soil P fractionation of different seasonal samplings indicated that grass-legume maintained higher organic and available inorganic P levels with less temporal variation than the two other types. The linkage of organic P and available P was also reflected in soil biological activity. Estimates of P in microbial biomass and phosphatase activity were significantly higher in grass-legume than grass-only and savanna. The improvement in soil P availability, as measured by solution P concentration, P sorption and exchangeable P, was much greater in grass-legume than in grass-only. With comparable fertilizer inputs and greater product exports, improved P availability in grass-legume cannot be due to differences in budgets but can be attributed to changes in the overall biological activity in the soil-plant system caused by the presence of legumes in the vegetation cover. Total C, organic P content and macrofaunal activity were all significantly higher in grass-legume soils. Greater turnover of organic litter in grass-legume may provide for steadier organic P inputs and, therefore, higher P cycling and availability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Institute of Plant Sciences, Plant Nutrition Group, Eschikon 33, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland

    A. Oberson

  2. International Fertilizer Development Center, PO Box 2040, Muscle Shoals, AL, 35662, USA; and

    D.K. Friesen

  3. Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical CIAT, A.A, 6713, Cali, Colombia (former address)

    D.K. Friesen

  4. Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, S7N 0W0, Canada

    H. Tiessen & C. Morel

  5. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Statistics, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    W. Stahel

Authors
  1. A. Oberson
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  2. D.K. Friesen
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  3. H. Tiessen
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  4. C. Morel
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  5. W. Stahel
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Correspondence to A. Oberson.

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Oberson, A., Friesen, D., Tiessen, H. et al. Phosphorus status and cycling in native savanna and improved pastures on an acid low-P Colombian Oxisol. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 55, 77–88 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009813008445

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