Phosphorus saturation and mobilization in two typical Chinese greenhouse vegetable soils

•Longer history of greenhouse vegetable production caused excessive P accumulation.•Exponential P losses occurred with increasing soil labile P in coarse-textured soils.•Higher levels of Particulate P were found in soil column leachates of smaller labile P.•Soil Olsen P test was found superior to assess the potential risk of P losses.

Chinese greenhouse vegetable production can cause eutrophication of fresh waters due to heavy use of fertilizers. To address this, phosphorus (P) leaching was compared between two major greenhouse vegetable soils from Jiangsu Province, Southeast China: clayey and acid-neutral Guli Orthic Anthrosols and sandy and alkaline Tongshan Ustic Cambosols. A total of 20 intact soil columns were collected based on differences in total P content varying between 1360 and 11,220 mg kg−1. Overall, six leaching experiments were carried out with collection of leachates over 24 h. Very high P concentrations, with a mean of 3.43 mg L−1, were found in the leachates from P rich Tongshan soils. In contrast, P leaching from fine-textured but less P rich Guli soils rarely exceeded the suggested environmental P threshold of 0.1 mg L−1. Strong linear correlations were found between different soil test P measures (STPs) or degree of P saturations (DPSs) and dissolved reactive P (DRP) for Tongshan soil columns. The correlations with Olsen P (r2 = 0.91) and DPS based on MehlichIII extractable calcium (DPSM3-Ca) (r2 = 0.87) were the most promising. An Olsen P value above 41 mg kg−1 or a DPSM3-Ca above 3.44% led to DRP leaching exceeding 0.1 mg L−1. Accordingly, more than 80% of Tongshan soils resulted in DRP leaching exceeding the environmental P threshold. In conclusion P rich alkaline sandy soils used for greenhouse vegetable production are at high risk of P mobilization across China.

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