Relationships Between Soil Volume Used by Roots and Nutrient Accessibility

Summary Increasing the volume of soil available to plants growing in pots increased yields of oats, ryegrass, kale, and tomatoes and decreased the intensity of rooting; it increased the supply of N more than that of P, as P uptake was correlated with root intensity and N uptake was not. Responses to P fertilizer were greater in the larger volumes of soil, but responses to applied N were less than in small volumes. Isoquants showed that, when soil volume is restricted, it is more important to apply a mobile nutrient (nitrate) than an immobile nutrient (phosphate), although the value of either nutrient in compensating for inadequate soil volume depends on the supply of the other.