Recovery of Soil Test Phosphorus from an Acidic Soil Amended with Organic and Inorganic Phosphorus

Information on soil test phosphorus (P) in soil treated with organic amendments is important to a sound management of manure additions to agricultural fields. This study compared the recovery of cow manure, chicken manure, city compost P relative to triple super phosphate P (TSP) for an acidic soil with different antecedent soil test P (STP). Phosphorus was added at rates of 0, 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg P·kg−1 soil based on total P. The soil was incubated at field capacity for 1, 4, 8 and 16 weeks (wk) after which they were extracted using NaHCO3 (Olsen) Mehlich-3, Kelowna and Bray & Kurtz-1 extractants. Regardless of extractants, after 1 wk incubation, the highest STP source was the TSP and the least was the city compost. Soil Test P increased with the addition of amendments from different P sources. Among the amendments, soil test P in TSP amended soil gradually decreased but in the city compost amended soil slightly in-creased with incubation time, whereas the changes of soil test P with time in the cow and chicken manures amended soil was very negligible. Across the amendments and rates of P additions, the value of extractable P with Olsen was of 55 mg·kg−1 (16%), with Mehlich-3 was of 112 mg·kg−1 (32%), with Kelowna was of 88 mg·kg−1 (24%) and with Bray & Kurtz was of 104 mg kg−1 (29 % of total added P). The P extraction efficiency was in the order: NaHCO3 < Kelowna < Bray & Kurtz-1 < Mehlich-3. This study indicates that P in organic amendments reflects plant available P through the entire incubation period but P in the TSP are likely to under estimate after 8 wk of incubation