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Microbial Turnover of Phosphorus in Soil
Author(s) -
Johnson D. D.,
Broadbent F. E.
Publication year - 1952
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/sssaj1952.03615995001600010017x
Subject(s) - phosphorus , environmental chemistry , chemistry , nitrogen , soil water , nutrient , agronomy , environmental science , soil science , biology , organic chemistry
The phosphorus cycle in soils has been shown to be closely related to the carbon and nitrogen cycles. The investigation reported is an attempt to evaluate the effect of the energy status of the soil on this phosphorus cycle. A concept of a metabolic pool in the soil from which microbial, plant, and chemical processes takadknorganic phosphorus is presented. The addition of radioactive phosphorus to this pool and its subsequent uptake by the soil processes would allow the various fractions of the soil phosphorus which are actively turning over to be identified. The procedure used to evaluate this theory involved the addition of radiophosphorus and incubation of soil samples for various periods of time, after which the soil was leached with acid and then treated with cold and hot alkali solutions, the alkali solutions being further fractionated by the addition of acid. Total phosphorus and total radiophosphorus was determined on all fractions. The analysis of the data shows that certain of these soil phosphorus fractions do undergo rapid turnover. The possible importance of these rapidly turning‐over fractions to the growth of higher plants is suggested.