Effect of Lime and Flooding on Phosphorus Availability and Rice Growth on Two Acidic Lowland Soils

Abstract

Loss of soil‐water saturation may impair growth of rainfed lowland rice by restricting nutrient uptake, including the uptake of added phosphorus (P). For acidic soils, reappearance of soluble aluminum (Al) following loss of soil‐water saturation may also restrict P uptake. The aim of this study was to determine whether liming, flooding, and P additions could ameliorate the effects of loss of soil‐water saturation on P uptake and growth of rice. In the first pot experiment, two acid lowland soils from Cambodia [Kandic Plinthaqult (black clay soil) and Plinthustalf (sandy soil)] were treated with P (45 mg P kg⁻¹ soil) either before or after flooding for 4 weeks to investigate the effect of flooding on effectiveness of P fertilizer for rice growth. After 4 weeks, soils were air dried and crushed and then wet to field capacity and upland rice was grown in them for an additional 6 weeks. Addition of P fertilizer before rather than after flooding depressed the growth of the subsequently planted upland rice. During flooding, there was an increase in both acetate‐extractable Fe and the phosphate sorption capacity of soils, and a close relationship between them (r²=0.96–0.98). When P was added before flooding, Olsen and Bray 1‐extractable P, shoot dry matter, and shoot P concentrations were depressed, indicating that flooding decreased availability of fertilizer P. A second pot experiment was conducted with three levels of lime as CaCO₃ [to establish pH (CaCl₂) in the oxidized soils at 4, 5, and 6] and four levels of P (0, 13, 26, and 52 mg P kg⁻¹ soil) added to the same two acid lowland rice soils under flooded and nonflooded conditions. Under continuously flooded conditions, pH increased to over 5.6 regardless of lime treatment, and there was no response of rice dry matter to liming after 6 weeks' growth, but the addition of P increased rice dry matter substantially in both soils. In nonflooded soils, when P was not applied, shoot dry matter was depressed by up to one‐half of that in plants grown under continuously flooded conditions. Under the nonflooded conditions, rice dry matter and leaf P increased with the addition of P, but less so than in flooded soils. Leaf P concentrations and shoot dry matter responded strongly to the addition of lime. The increase in shoot dry matter of rice with lime and P application in nonflooded soil was associated with a significant decline in soluble Al in the soil and an increase in plant P uptake. The current experiments show that the loss of soil‐water saturation may be associated with the inhibition of P absorption by excess soluble Al. By contrast, flooding decreased exchangeable Al to levels below the threshold for toxicity in rice. In addition, the decreased P availability with loss of soil‐water saturation may have been associated with a greater phosphate sorption capacity of the soils during flooding and after reoxidation due to occlusion of P within ferric oxyhydroxides formed.

Keywords:

• Acid soils
• aluminium toxicity
• flooding
• lime
• phosphorus availability
• rice