Effects of soil flooding on P transformations in soils of the Mesopotamia region, Argentina

In the Mesopotamia region (Argentina), rice is cropped on a wide range of soil types, and the response of rice to fertilizer application has been inconsistent even in soils with very low levels of available phosphorus. Phosphorus transformations in flooded soils depend on soil characteristics that may affect phosphorus availability. This study was conducted to determine which soil characteristics were related to the changes in P fractions during soil flooding. Soils were chosen from ten sites within the Mesopotamia region that are included in five different soil orders: Oxisols, Ultisols, Alfisols, Mollisols, and Vertisols. Soil phosphorus (P) was fractionated by a modified Hedley method before and after a 45 d anaerobic‐incubation period. Changes in the inorganic P extracted with resin depended on soil pH and were related to the exchangeable‐Fe concentration of soils (extracted with EDTA). Inorganic P extracted with alkaline extractants (NaHCO 3 and NaOH) increased due to soil flooding. This increase was related to the organic‐C (OC) percentage of soils (r 2 = 0.62, p < 0.01), and ranged from 13 to 55 mg kg –1 . Even though previous studies showed that P associated with poorly crystalline Fe played an important role in the P nutrition of flooded rice, in this study, there was no relationship between ammonium oxalate–extractable Fe and P changes in soils due to flooding. Our results suggest that in the Mesopotamia region, changes in P fractions due to soil flooding are related to soil OC, soil pH, and soluble and weakly adsorbed Fe.