Effect of phosphorus application on transformation of zinc fraction in soil and on the zinc nutrition of lowland rice

We have studied in the laboratory the effect of different levels of P application on the transformation on native as well as of applied zinc in a rice-growing soil under two moisture regimes viz., flooded and nonflooded. Application of P caused a decrease in the water soluble plus exchangeable and organic complexed with a concomitant increase in the amorphous and crystalline sesquioxide bound forms of native soil zinc. Application of P also caused a decrease in the transformation of applied Zn into the water soluble plus exchangeable and organically complexed and an increase in the amorphous and crystalline sesquioxide bound forms of zinc. The above effects of P were more pronounced in soil under flooded than under nonflooded moisture regimes. The water soluble plus exchangeable and the organically complexed forms of Zn are considered to play an important role in Zn nutrition of lowland rice, while the role of the amorphous and crystalline sesquioxide bound forms are less important in this regard.The results of greenhouse experiments showed that P application caused a progressive decrease in the Zn concentration in shoot and root. This was attributed at least partly to the decrease in the water soluble plus exchangeable and organically complexed forms of Zn and an increase in the amorphous and crystalline sesquioxide bound forms in soil due to P application.