Soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry drives phosphorus lability in paddy soil under long-term fertilization: A fractionation and path analysis study

PLoS One. 2019 Jun 24;14(6):e0218195. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218195. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Soil C:N:P stoichiometry plays a vital role in nutrient cycling in ecosystems, but its importance to P transformation in paddy soil remains unclear. We investigated the effect of soil C:N:P stoichiometry on P mobility and uptake under long-term fertilization. Three treatments, CK (no fertilization), NPK (inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilization) and NPKM (combined inorganic NPK fertilizer and manure application), were selected from two long-term experiments of paddy soil that were initiated in 1991 and 1982 in Chongqing and Suining, respectively. The results showed that in comparison the control treatment, under long-term fertilization, soil pH decreased. In comparison with the NPK and CK treatments, the NPKM treatment significantly increased soil nutrient contents, P uptake and phosphatase activities. In comparison to the CK treatment, the NPK and NPKM treatments significantly decreased soil C:N, C:P and N:P ratios. In comparison to NPK and CK treatments, the NPKM treatment decreased residual-P at both sites. Compared with CK treatment, the NPKM treatments increased labile-P and moderately labile-P by 987% and 144%, respectively, and NPK treatment increased these factors by 823% and 125%, respectively, at the Chongqing site. At the Suining site, with NPKM treatment, increases in labile-P and moderately labile-P were 706% and 73%, respectively, and with NPK treatment, the increases were 529% and 47%, respectively. In contrast, non-labile-P was significantly decreased with NPKM treatment in comparison to that with NPK and CK treatments. Moreover, increases in soil C:N and C:P ratios decreased the labile-P pools and increased non-labile-P pools. A path analysis indicated that soil C:N:P stoichiometry indirectly controlled P uptake by directly affecting P transformation from non-labile to labile-P pools. Moreover, the non-labile-P in soil with high SOM and P content directly affected P uptake, indicating that soil P transformation is mainly driven by soil C and P in paddy soil. In conclusion, understanding mechanism of P mobility influenced by soil C:N:P stoichiometry could be helpful to manage soil P fertility under long-term fertilization in paddy soils of these regions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / analysis*
  • Chemical Fractionation
  • Climate
  • Fertilizers / analysis*
  • Linear Models
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Nitrogen / analysis*
  • Oryza / chemistry*
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Phosphorus / analysis*
  • Soil / chemistry*

Substances

  • Fertilizers
  • Soil
  • Phosphorus
  • Carbon
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases
  • Nitrogen

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0300901, 2016YFD0300902 and 2017YFD0800101) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41671301, 41371293 and 41561070) to H. Zhang. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.