Phosphorus Dynamics: From Soil to Plant

Abstract

With increasing demand of agricultural production and as the peak in global production will occur in the next decades, phosphorus (P) is receiving more attention as a nonrenewable resource (Cordell et al., 2009;Gilbert, 2009). One unique characteristic of P is its low availability due to slow diffusion and high fixation in soils. All of this means that P can be a major limiting factor for plant growth. Applications of chemical P fertilizers and animal manure to agricultural land have improved soil P fertility and crop production, but caused environmental damage in the past decades. Maintaining a proper P-supplying level at the root zone can maximize the efficiency of plant roots to mobilize and acquire P from the rhizosphere by an integration of root morphological and physiological adaptive strategies. Furthermore, P uptake and utilization by plants plays a vital role in the determination of final crop yield. A holistic understanding of P dynamics from soil to plant is necessary for optimizing P management and improving P-use efficiency, aiming at reducing consumption of chemical P fertilizer, maximizing exploitation of the biological potential of root/rhizosphere processes for efficient mobilization, and acquisition of soil P by plants as well as recycling P from manure and waste. Taken together, overall P dynamics in the soilplant system is a function of the integrative effects of P transformation, availability, and utilization caused by soil, rhizosphere, and plant processes. This Update focuses on the dynamic processes determining P availability in the soil and in the rhizosphere, P mobilization, uptake, and utilization by plants. It highlights recent advances in the understanding of the P dynamics in the soil/rhizosphere-plant continuum.

Comparative genomic, proteomic and exoproteomic analyses of three Pseudomonas strains reveals novel insights into the phosphorus scavenging capabilities of soil bacteria

“…For example, based on our genomic and proteomics data, differences in the ability of the strains to degrade phospholipids, nucleic acids and organopesticides (Singh and Walker, 2006; Bigley and Raushel, 2013), as well as a likely difference in their broad organic P substrate range may have marked effects on their ability to mobilize P for a plant host under certain environmental conditions. For example, the addition of a strain comparable to DSM4166, expressing UshA and GlpQ, may increase the acquisition of P in plants when using manure as the nutrient source, which is rich in nucleic acids and phospholipids (Turner and Leytem, 2004; Shen et al ., 2011). Furthermore, DSM4166 is a known nitrogen fixer and in certain soils (nitrogen‐limited) employing this strain over that of either BIRD‐1 or SBW25 may provide more efficient plant‐growth promotion.…”

Soil properties and species composition under different grazing intensity in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

“…2e). This was probably because the main source of P is rock weathering, which is a long process (Shen et al 2011) and not significantly influenced by grazing. A negative correlation between TC and BD (P = 0.037, Table 2) was found in this study, like some others (Steffens et al 2008;Yang et al 2015).…”

Distribuição espacial de fósforo em Latossolo tratado com lodo de esgoto e adubação mineral

“…Uma característica marcante do fósforo (P) é sua baixa disponibilidade em decorrência da baixa difusão e da alta fixação em solos (Shen et al, 2011). Para atender à demanda das culturas de alta produção a adição de P, seja ela via fertilizantes minerais ou orgânicos, tornou-se uma prática indispensável na maioria dos solos brasileiros.…”