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Phosphorus forms in a sandy soil (Torripsamment) under palm orchards of different age in Saudi Arabia
Author(s) -
HEAKAL M.S.,
ALAWAJY M.H.,
ALSEWAILEM M.S.,
BARAKAH F.N.,
ALASHEIKH A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 1351-0754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1995.tb01344.x
Subject(s) - soil water , mineralization (soil science) , chemistry , zoology , irrigation , phosphorus , dominance (genetics) , horticulture , mineralogy , agronomy , biology , ecology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , gene
Summary Flood irrigated date‐palm orchards annually manured for 10 (= U 10 ), 50 (= U 50 , 110 (= U 110 ) and 230 ( U 230 ) years together with a barren site in a nearby desert (= U 0 ) all on sandy soils, were analysed for total P (TP), organic P (OP), inorganic P extracted by 0.5 m H 2 SO 4 (Ca‐P), inorganic P not extracted by 0.5 m H 2 SO 4 (NP), total N (TN) and organic C (TC). Watering resulted in continuing CaCO 3 accumulation in the soils. TC and TN to 160 cm depth increased rapidly over the first 50 years (120 g C m −2 a −1 and 9.7 g N m −2 a −1 ), then the increases slowed. In contrast, TP continued to accumulate steadily (4.8 g P m −2 a −1 ). At U 0 , TP to 160 cm depth was very small (= 88 mg kg −1 ) and dominated by Ca‐P with OP as a minor component. At U 10 , OP and Ca‐P were in equal proportions. The latter acquired increasing dominance with increasing period of treatment whereas OP reached a steady state. NP increased at a rate which decreased with time. It is likely that most of OP compounds have been leached down the profile where mineralization and subsequent immobilization, probably by Ca 2+ ions from irrigation waters, have occurred.