Isotopic exchangeability reveals that soil phosphate is mobilised by carboxylate anions, whereas acidification had the reverse effect

Abstract

Mineral P is an increasingly scarce resource, and therefore the mobilisation of legacy soil P must be optimised to maintain soil fertility. We have used isotopic exchangeability to probe the lability of native soil P in four contrasting soils following acidification and the addition of carboxylate anions (citrate and oxalate) in soil suspension. Acidification tended to cause immobilisation of soil P, but this was attributed to a salt effect. Addition of both citrate and oxalate led to marked increases in mobilisation of soil P. This would result from both competition between carboxylate and phosphate ions at adsorption sites and chelation of charge-compensating cations. The carboxylate effects were similar at each level of acidification, indicating that effects were largely additive. This is not true for the most calcareous soil where calcium oxalate may have been precipitated at the highest oxalate addition. Promoting carboxylate anions in soil by soil amendment or the use of crops that exude large amounts of such organic anions is a promising approach to improve soil-P availability.