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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1451073
This article is part of the Research Topic Meeting the Triple-H Challenge: Advanced Crop-Soil-Fertilizer Management Strategies to Maximize Crop Yield, Quality, and Nutrient Efficiency View all 10 articles

Enhancing maize phosphorus uptake with optimal blends of high and low-concentration phosphorus fertilizers

Provisionally accepted
Chen Chen Chen Chen 1,2Yue Xiang Yue Xiang 2Xiaoqiang Jiao Xiaoqiang Jiao 2Haiqing Gong Haiqing Gong 2*
  • 1 School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
  • 2 China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    High-concentration phosphorus (P) fertilizers are crucial for crop growth. However, fertilizers with lower P concentrations, such as calcium magnesium phosphate (CMP) and single super phosphate (SSP), can also serve as efficient P sources, especially when blended with high-concentration P fertilizers like diammonium phosphate (DAP) or monoammonium phosphate (MAP). In this study, we conducted a 48-day pot experiment to explore how blending low-P fertilizers could optimize maize P utilization, using CMP to replace DAP in acidic soil, and SSP to replace MAP in alkaline soil, with five SSP+MAP and CMP+DAP mixtures tested. Key metrics such as shoot and root biomass, shoot P uptake, root length, and soil P bioavailability were measured. We found that maize biomass and P uptake with 100% DAP were comparable to those with 50% CMP and 50% DAP in acidic soil. Similar results were observed for 100% MAP compared to 50% SSP and 50% DAP in alkaline soil. Root biomass and length were largest with 100% MAP in acidic soil and at 100% DAP in alkaline soil, with no significant differences at 50% SSP or CMP substitutions for MAP and DAP, respectively. Furthermore, 50% SSP or CMP substitutions for MAP and DAP increased the content and proportion of the labile inorganic P (Pi) pool (H2O-Pi and NaHCO3-Pi), had a direct and positive effect on Olsen-P. Our findings reveal that 1:1 blends of SSP and MAP in acidic soil, and CMP and DAP in alkaline soil, effectively meet maize's P requirements without relying solely on highconcentration P fertilizers. This indicates that strategic blending of fertilizers can optimize P use, which is crucial for sustainable agriculture.

    Keywords: Phosphorus, Maize, Inorganic phosphorus pool, Alkaline soil, acidic soil

    Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Xiang, Jiao and Gong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Haiqing Gong, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.