Dissolved reactive phosphorus in runoff assessed by soil extraction with an acetate buffer

Authors

• R. UUSITALO
• H. JANSSON

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.5734

Abstract

Agronomic soil test phosphorus (STP) data is, in addition to fertility studies, increasingly utilised in environmental risk assessment. We compared relationships between soil P extracted by acid ammonium acetate (AAAc-P) and water-soluble P (Pw) in laboratory, and AAAc-P and dissolved molybdatereactive P (DRP) in field runoff. The laboratory study suggested a close relationship (R2 = 0.87, n = 64) between AAAc-P and soluble P concentration in 1:100 (w/v) soil-to-water extracts, described by a linear equation:Pw (mg l1) =0.021 × AAAc-P (mg l1 soil) 0.015 (mg l1). In Lake Rehtijärvi cathcment, dominated by clayey soils, the AAAc-P content of field Ap horizon in a similar manner influenced the flow-weighted DRP concentration in surface runoff and drainflow:a 1 mg l1 increase in soil AAAc-P corresponded to 0.015 and 0.018 mg l1 increase in surface runoff and drainflow DRP, respectively. When the AAAc-P vs.Pw relationship obtained in the laboratory test was used to predict the average DRP concentration in edge-of-field runoff, the precision of the DRP estimates inferred from STP data was in 95% of the cases ± 0.10 mg l1. In the L. Rehtijärvi catchment, 50% of the diffuse DRP loading risk was assigned to an area that corresponded to less than 20% of the fields and the situation may be similar in the national scale.;