Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T10:47:11.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An estimate of the uptake of subsurface soil potassium by crops in two long-term experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. N. Ganeshamurthy
A. N. Ganeshamurthy
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Plant roots may extend as far or farther below the ground than the plant does above. Given ample space the root system of a single plant may have a total spread of 1·2 m in wheat and 2·4 m in maize. Although a major part of the nutrients are absorbed by crops from the surface soil, subsurfacesoil contributions are often substantial. Part of the nutrients applied to surface soil may leach down and accumulate in subsurface horizons which are often exploited by the deep-rooted crops in a crop rotation (Sparks, Martens & Zelazy, 1980). Lysimeter and soil sampling studies have shown a reduction of K movement when soils are cropped (Broadbent & Chapman, 1949; Singh & Brar, 1977). The amount of reduction varies with the crops. Volk (1940) found that losses of applied potassium on a sandy soil over an 8-year period were reduced by 20% by growing a winter legume in the rotation.

Type
Short Note
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 101 , Issue 2 , October 1983 , pp. 495 - 497
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Black, C. A. (1965). Methods of Soil Analysis, Part II. Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.: American Society of Agronomy Inc.Google Scholar
Broadbent, F. E. & Chapman, M. D. (1949). A lysimeter investigation of gains, losses and balance of salts and plant nutrients in an irrigated soil. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 3, 101–106.Google Scholar
Ghosh, A. B. & Biswas, C. R. (1978). Potassium responses and changes in soil potassium status with time. Symposium Proceedings. Potassium in Soils and Crops, pp. 379–390. Potash Research Institute, India.Google Scholar
Pratt, P. F. (1951). Potassium removal from Iowa soils by greenhouse and laboratory procedures. Soil Science 78, 223–227.Google Scholar
Singh, B. & Brar, S. P. S. (1977). Dynamics of native and applied potassium in maize–wheat rotation. Potash Review 9, 1–6.Google Scholar
Sparks, D. L., Martens, D. C. & Zelazy, L. W. (1980). Plant uptake and leaching of applied and indigenous potassium in Dothan soils. Agronomy Journal 72, 551–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volk, N. J. (1940). The effect of soil characteristics and winter legumes on the leaching of K below the eight inch depth in some Alabama soils. Journal of American Society of Agronomy 32, 888–890.Google Scholar