Changes in P forms and availability as influenced by management practices

Summary The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in soil phosphorus (P) forms and potential availability that occurred in a grassland soil when it was cultivated and cropped to winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in a crop-fallow rotation using three tillage systems: no-till, stubble mulch, and plow (bare fallow). The experiment was located in western Nebraska on a Duroc loam (fine silty, mixed, mesic Pachic Haplustolls). After 14 years, significant differences had developed in the form of soil P as determined by a sequential fractionation procedures between the original control (grass-sod) and the bare fallow treatments. Most of the differences were associated with increases in sand content caused by erosion, accompanied on the bare fallow plots by a mixing of sand from lower horizons throughout the surface 0–15 cm. Contribution R502 from the Saskatchewan Institute of Pedology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 0W0.