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An Evaluation of Phosphorus Fertilizers Varying in Water Solubility: I. Hill Applications for Corn¹

ABSTRACT

The degree of water solubility of the phosphorus exerted a marked influence on the growth, phosphorus absorption, and yield of corn in 20 field experiments involving hill fertilization rates of 10 to 30 pounds of available P₂O₅ per acre.

All of the experiments showed consistent trends toward larger yield increases with increasing water solubility of the phosphorus, and a statistically significant source effect was observed in 12 of the 20 experiments. The largest increase in fertilizer effectiveness per unit increase in water solubility occurred on the lower part of the solubility scale. About 90% of the yield increase attributable to water solubility was attained with fertilizers having 60% of the phosphorus in a water-soluble form.

Plant height measurements indicated that early season growth response was correlated very closely with phosphorus rates and water solubility. The use of P³² labeled fertilizers in one experiment revealed that the fraction of plant phosphorus derived from the fertilizer increased significantly with increasing phosphorus water solubility. However, rate and source of phosphorus had only a slight effect on the total phosphorus content of leaves sampled at silking time.

¹ Journal Paper No. J-3363 of the Iowa Agr. and Home Econ. Exp. Sta., Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1189. This work was supported in part by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp., and the Davison Chemical Corp.

² Associate Professors of Soils, Agronomy Department. The authors are indebted to Mr. W. L. Hill and associates, of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA for preparing the radioactive fertilizers used in part of the work.

Received for publication March 28, 1958. Accepted for publication June 25, 1958.