title: Improving phosphorus availability in an acid soil using organic amendments produced from agroindustrial wastes.
abstract: In acid soils, soluble inorganic phosphorus is fixed by aluminium and iron. To overcome this problem, acid soils are limed to fix aluminium and iron but this practice is not economical. The practice is also not environmentally friendly. This study was conducted to improve phosphorus availability using organic amendments (biochar and compost produced from chicken litter and pineapple leaves, resp.) to fix aluminium and iron instead of phosphorus. Amending soil with biochar or compost or a mixture of biochar and compost increased total phosphorus, available phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus fractions (soluble inorganic phosphorus, aluminium bound inorganic phosphorus, iron bound inorganic phosphorus, redundant soluble inorganic phosphorus, and calcium bound phosphorus), and organic phosphorus. This was possible because the organic amendments increased soil pH and reduced exchangeable acidity, exchangeable aluminium, and exchangeable iron. The findings suggest that the organic amendments altered soil chemical properties in a way that enhanced the availability of phosphorus in this study. The amendments effectively fixed aluminium and iron instead of phosphorus, thus rendering phosphorus available by keeping the inorganic phosphorus in a bioavailable labile phosphorus pool for a longer period compared with application of Triple Superphosphate without organic amendments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Sarawak Campus, 97008 Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Huck Ywih
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ch'ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Sarawak Campus, 97008 Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia ; Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Osumanu Haruna
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nik Muhamad Ab
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Majid
mesh_terms: D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007220:Industrial Waste; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D012987:Soil; C540010:biochar; D002606:Charcoal; D010758:Phosphorus