Effect of Soil Moisture Content and Phosphorus Application on Phosphorus Nutrition of Rice Cultivated in Different Water Regime Systems

Abstract

Pot experiments were conducted in a glasshouse to investigate the effect of soil water content and phosphorus (P) supply on biomass, P uptake by rice cultivated in soils with different water regimes and soil available P. Results showed that P application rates had greater effect on P nutrition of rice than soil moisture content. Yield of rice grain was significantly decreased when soil moisture content was kept at 60% of water holding capacity (WHC) while the yields of rice grain were not significantly different when soil moistures were remained at 80% of WHC and waterlogged. This meant that it was possible for paddy rice variety to be cultivated in aerobic soil under the condition of sufficient P supply. The highest biomass of rice and highest P uptake by rice were found in the treatment with 0.0300 g P kg⁻¹ of P application rate and with 80% of WHC. Soil available P content decreased with the decrease of both the soil moisture content and the P applied. Rice crop exhausted soil P to a great extent leading to very low available soil P content when the rice crop was harvested, especially in the soil receiving no or small amounts of P fertilizer. All the results obtained in this experiment could provide the theoretic base for water and P management of paddy rice variety cultivated in aerobic soil in the southern hilly areas of China.

Keywords:

• Soil moisture
• P application rate
• Paddy rice cultivated on aerobic soil
• Phosphorus nutrition

Acknowledgments

This research work was financially supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 30070446) and Key Project of CAS (KZCX2-407, KZCX2-413).