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Fixation and Recovery by Oats of Potash Applied to Soils
Author(s) -
Attoe O. J.
Publication year - 1949
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1949.036159950013000c0018x
Subject(s) - soil water , citation , potash , library science , fixation (population genetics) , mathematics , computer science , environmental science , sociology , soil science , biology , agronomy , fertilizer , demography , population
' I 'HE readiness with which potash that has been •*applied to soils becomes fixed in non-exchangeable form and again reverts to the exchangeable form, and thus becomes available to crops, is an important matter in many areas. It is of special importance in Wisconsin where the growing of alfafa and clover in connection with the dairy system of farming has resulted in a heavy drain on the "fluid" potash reserves of the' soil and where fertilization with potash is now urgently needed. For example, in order to grow vigorous and abundant crops of alfalfa and clover that will survive the winter on some soils, initial applications of as much as 500 pounds of muriate of potash per acre are often needed in addition to lime and phosphate. Some confusion exists in the literature regarding the 'effect that fixation of potassium in nonexchangeable forms exerts on the potassium economy of soils. In most cases, this phenomenon has been viewed with some concern because of its effect in reducing the availability to crops of the potassium applied as fertilizer. More recently, however, Bray and DeTurk (5)' and others have considered this fixation of potassium to be somewhat beneficial because the fixed potassium is not subject to leaching and may become available to crops under suitable conditions. The lack of information regarding the extent to which plants are able to recover this fixed potassium appears to be responsible for this difference of opinion. It was for the purpose of obtaining further information on this point that the present investigation was undertaken.