Relationship between phosphorus fractions and properties of highly calcareous soils

Inorganic phosphorus ( P) sequential fractionation schemes are applicable techniques to interpret soil P status. The present study was initiated to determine the origin of various P fractions in highly calcareous soils. Inorganic P forms were determined by a sequential fractionation procedure extracting with NaOH (NaOH-P), Na citrate-bicarbonate (CB-P), Na citrate 2 times (C1-P and C2-P), Na citrate-ascorbate (CAs-P), Na citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite (CBD-P), Na acetate (NaAc-P), and HCl (HCl-P). Results showed that NaOH-P was negatively correlated with active iron oxides. CB-P was positively correlated with silt content and negatively related to citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite extractable Fe (Fe-d). This result illustrates the weathering effect on Ca-P, with Ca-P content declining as a consequence of weathering. A negative correlation was observed between C1-P and citrate ascorbate extractable Fe (Fe-CAs). Second citrate extractable P (C2-P) was negatively related to calcium carbonate equivalent and positively related to hydroxylamine-hydrochloride and neutral ammonium acetate-hydroquinone extractable Mn (Mnh and Mnq). Fine silt (Fsilt) was the most influential factor affecting CAs-P. It seemed citrate-dithionite-bicarbonate extractable Al (Al-d), Mn-h, and Mn-q have been sinks for CBD-P, while free iron oxide compounds (Feo, Fec, and Fe-CAs) were a major contributing factor for the formation of NaAc-P. Stable P compounds (HCl-P) of highly calcareous soils originated from coarse silt (Csilt) and hydroxylamine-hydrochloride extractable Mn (Mnh).