Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Combined nitrate and phosphorus application promotes rhizosphere alkalization and nitrogen uptake by wheat but not canola in acid subsoils

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Excess anion uptake in the form of nitrate has been shown to reduce soil acidification. The question is to what extent the deep placement of calcium nitrate can increase this root-induced alkalization in reducing subsurface soil acidity.

Methods

Wheat and canola were grown for 35 days in reconstructed soil columns comprising of topsoil (pHCaCl2 5.4) in 0–10 cm and subsurface soil (pHCaCl2 4.8) in 10–50 cm. Two forms of 15N-enriched fertilizers (urea versus calcium nitrate at 237 mg N per column) with or without P fertilizer (NaH2PO4 at 99 mg P per column) were placed at 0–10, 10–20, or 20–30 cm depth. Root proliferation, rhizosphere pH, and shoot 15N recovery were quantified.

Results

Uptake of Ca(NO3)2 increased pH up to 0.5 and 0.2 units in the rhizosphere and bulk soil, respectively, in all treated layers compared to those with urea. The combined application of nitrate and P fertilizer facilitated plant nitrate uptake and hence rhizosphere alkalization. Significant increases up to 10% and 22% in shoot and root biomass, respectively, were observed in the combination of nitrate and P treatments compared with the combined urea and P treatments. The nitrate treatment significantly increased the 15N recovery of fertilizer in both wheat and canola up to 20% compared with the urea treatment.

Conclusions

The increased nitrate uptake reduced subsurface acidity. The combination of nitrate and P treatment can facilitate alkalinity movement downward, hence ameliorating subsurface soil acidity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams F, Pearson R (1969) Neutralizing soil acidity under bermudagrass sod. Soil Sci Soc Am J 33:737–742

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alston A (1980) Response of wheat to deep placement of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on a soil high in phosphorus in the surface layer. Aust J Agric Res 31:13–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bagayoko M, George E, Römheld V, Buerkert A (2000) Effects of mycorrhizae and phosphorus on growth and nutrient uptake of millet, cowpea and sorghum on a West African soil. J Agric Sci 135:399–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns I (1974) A model for predicting the redistribution of salts applied to fallow soils after excess rainfall or evaporation. J Soil Sci 25:165–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera M, Kissel D, Bock B (1991) Urea hydrolysis in soil: effects of urea concentration and soil pH. Soil Biol Biochem 23:1121–1124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cai Z, Laughlin RJ, Stevens RJ (2001) Nitrous oxide and dinitrogen emissions from soil under different water regimes and straw amendment. Chemosphere 42:113–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-6535(00)00116-8

  • Conyers MK, Poile GJ, Cullis BR (1991) Lime responses by barley as related to available soil aluminum and manganese. Aust J Agric Res 42:379–390. https://doi.org/10.1071/Ar9910379

  • Conyers M, Heenan D, McGhie W, Poile G (2003) Amelioration of acidity with time by limestone under contrasting tillage. Soil Tillage Res 72:85–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conyers MK, Tang C, Poile GJ, Li Liu D, Chen D, Nuruzzaman Z (2011) A combination of biological activity and the nitrate form of nitrogen can be used to ameliorate subsurface soil acidity under dryland wheat farming. Plant Soil 348:155–166

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Denton MD, Sasse C, Tibbett M, Ryan MH (2006) Root distributions of Australian herbaceous perennial legumes in response to phosphorus placement. Funct Plant Biol 33:1091–1102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drew M (1975) Comparison of the effects of a localised supply of phosphate, nitrate, ammonium and potassium on the growth of the seminal root system, and the shoot, in barley. New Phytol 75:479–490

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gahoonia TS, Claassen N, Jungk A (1992) Mobilization of phosphate in different soils by ryegrass supplied with ammonium or nitrate. Plant Soil 140:241–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansel FD, Amado TJ, Ruiz Diaz DA, Rosso LH, Nicoloso FT, Schorr M (2017) Phosphorus fertilizer placement and tillage affect soybean root growth and drought tolerance. Agron J 109:2936–2944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Isbell R (2016) The Australian soil classification. CSIRO publishing, Clayton South

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kinraide T (2003) Toxicity factors in acidic forest soils attempts to evaluate separately the toxic effects of excessive Al3+ and H+ and insufficient Ca2+ and Mg2+ upon root elongation. Eur J Soil Sci 54:323–333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li GD, Burns H (2016) Managing subsoil acidity 3-D Ripping Machine. Available at https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/689152/subsoil-factsheet-no.2-3-D-ripping-machine.pdf

  • Li GD, Conyers MK, Helyar KR, Lisle CJ, Poile GJ, Cullis BR (2019) Long-term surface application of lime ameliorates subsurface soil acidity in the mixed farming zone of south-eastern Australia. Geoderma 338:236–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Sun J, Tian D, Wang J, Ha D, Qu Y, Jing G, Niu S (2018) Soil acid cations induced reduction in soil respiration under nitrogen enrichment and soil acidification. Sci Total Environ 615:1535–1546

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XJ, Mosier AR, Halvorson AD, Zhang FS (2006) The impact of nitrogen placement and tillage on NO, N2O, CH4 and CO2 fluxes from a clay loam soil. Plant Soil 280:177–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-005-2950-8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu S, Miller M (1994) Prediction of phosphorus uptake by field-grown maize with the Barber-Cushman model. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:852–857

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Masud M, Guo D, Li JY, Rk Xu (2014) Hydroxyl release by maize (Zea mays L.) roots under acidic conditions due to nitrate absorption and its potential to ameliorate an acidic Ultisol. J Soils Sediments 14:845–853

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rayment G, Higginson FR (1992) Australian laboratory handbook of soil and water chemical methods. Inkata Press Pty Ltd, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson D (1994) The responses of plants to non-uniform supplies of nutrients. New Phytol 127:635–674

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shen J, Yuan L, Zhang J, Li H, Bai Z, Chen X, Zhang W, Zhang F (2011) Phosphorus dynamics from soil to plant. Plant Physiol 156:997–1005

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner ME, Noble AD (2003) Soil acidification the world story. In: Rengel Z (ed) Handbook of Soil Acidity. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang C, Hinsinger P, Drevon J, Jaillard B (2001) Phosphorus deficiency impairs early nodule functioning and enhances proton release in roots of Medicago truncatula L. Ann Bot 88:131–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang C, Conyers MK, Nuruzzaman M, Poile G, Liu DL (2011) Biological amelioration of subsoil acidity through managing nitrate uptake by wheat crops. Plant Soil 338:383–397

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang C, Weligama C, Sale P (2013) Subsurface soil acidification in farming systems its possible causes and management options. In: J. Xu J and Sparks DL (eds) Molecular Environmental Soil Science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 389–412

  • Tian D, Niu S (2015) A global analysis of soil acidification caused by nitrogen addition. Environ Res Lett 10:024019

  • Weligama C, Tang C, Sale P, Conyers M, Liu D (2008) Localised nitrate and phosphate application enhances root proliferation by wheat and maximises rhizosphere alkalisation in acid subsoil. Plant Soil 312:101–115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weligama C, Sale P, Conyers M, Liu D, Tang C (2010a) Nitrate leaching stimulates subsurface root growth of wheat and increases rhizosphere alkalisation in a highly acidic soil. Plant Soil 328:119–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weligama C, Tang C, Sale P, Conyers M, Liu D (2010b) Application of nitrogen in NO3− form increases rhizosphere alkalisation in the subsurface soil layers in an acid soil. Plant Soil 333:403–416

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu ZL, Chen DL (2002) Nitrogen fertilizer use in China—Contributions to food production, impacts on the environment and best management strategies. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 63:117–127. https://doi.org/10.1023/A1021107026067

  • Williamson LC, Ribrioux SP, Fitter AH, Leyser HO (2001) Phosphate availability regulates root system architecture in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol, 126: 875-882

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was part of the project “Innovative approaches to managing subsoil acidity in the southern grain region” (DAN00206) supported by Grains Research and Development Corporation of Australia. We thank Drs Jason Condon and Sergio Moroni for allowing access to the Rutherglen experimental site for soil collection, and Yunfang Qiao and Shujie Miao, Dominic Lauricella and Janani Jasinghe Basthian Arachchige for root harvest. We acknowledge the technical support by Melbourne University TrACEES Platform (Trace Analysis for Chemical, Earth and Environmental Sciences) for the IRMS analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal, Plant & Soil Sciences, Centre for AgriBioscience, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia

    Zhe (Han) Weng, Clayton R. Butterly, Peter Sale & Caixian Tang

  2. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Zhe (Han) Weng

  3. School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia

    Clayton R. Butterly

  4. NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, PMB, Pine Gully Road, , Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2650, Australia

    Guangdi Li

Authors
  1. Zhe (Han) Weng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Clayton R. Butterly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Sale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guangdi Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Caixian Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhe (Han) Weng.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Yongfu Li

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 854 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Weng, Z.(., Butterly, C.R., Sale, P. et al. Combined nitrate and phosphorus application promotes rhizosphere alkalization and nitrogen uptake by wheat but not canola in acid subsoils. J Soils Sediments 21, 2995–3006 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03000-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-021-03000-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation