Crop type exerts greater influence upon rhizosphere phosphohydrolase gene abundance and phylogenetic diversity than phosphorus fertilization.

Rock phosphate is an alternative form of phosphorus (P) fertilizer; however, there is no information regarding the influence of P fertilizer sources in Brazilian Cerrado soils upon microbial genes coding for phosphohydrolase enzymes in crop rhizospheres. Here, we analyze a field experiment comparing maize and sorghum grown under different P fertilization (rock phosphate and triple superphosphate) upon crop performance, phosphatase activity and rhizosphere microbiomes at three levels of diversity: small subunit rRNA marker genes of bacteria, archaea and fungi; a suite of alkaline and acid phosphatase and phytase genes; and ecotypes of individual genes. We found no significant difference in crop performance between the fertilizer sources, but the accumulation of fertilizer P into pools of organic soil P differed. Phosphatase activity was the only biological parameter influenced by P fertilization. Differences in rhizosphere microbiomes were observed at all levels of biodiversity due to crop type, but not fertilization. Inspection of phosphohydrolase gene ecotypes responsible for differences between the crops suggests a role for lateral genetic transfer in establishing ecotype distributions. Moreover, they were not reflected in microbial community composition, suggesting that they confer competitive advantage to individual cells rather than species in the sorghum rhizosphere.

Quantitative measures of myo-IP6 in soil using solution 31P NMR spectroscopy and spectral deconvolution fitting including a broad signal.

Inositol phosphates, particularly myo-inositol hexakisphosphate (myo-IP6), are an important pool of soil organic phosphorus (P) in terrestrial ecosystems. To measure concentrations of myo-IP6 in alkaline soil extracts, solution 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is commonly used. However, overlap of the NMR peaks of myo-IP6 with several other peaks in the phosphomonoester region requires spectral deconvolution fitting (SDF) to partition the signals and quantify myo-IP6. At present, two main SDF approaches are in use; the first fits a Lorentzian/Gaussian lineshape to the myo-IP6 peaks directly to the baseline without an underlying broad signal, and the second fits a Lorentzian/Gaussian lineshape to the myo-IP6 peaks simultaneously with an underlying broad peak. The aim of this study was to compare the recovery of added myo-IP6 to soil extracts using both SDF procedures for six soil samples of diverse origin and differing concentrations of organic P (112 to 1505 mg P per kgsoil). The average recovery of total added myo-IP6 was 95% (SD 5) and 122% (SD 32) using SDF with and without an underlying broad signal, respectively. The recovery of individual peaks of myo-IP6 differed, most notably, the C5 phosphate peak of myo-IP6 was overestimated by up to 213% when a broad peak was not included in SDF. Based on the SDF procedure that includes a broad peak, concentrations of myo-IP6 ranged from 0.6 to 90.4 mg P per kgsoil, which comprised 1-23% of total phosphomonoesters. Our results demonstrate that the SDF procedure with an underlying broad signal is essential for the accurate quantification of myo-IP6 in soil extracts.

Transformation of Calcium Phosphates in Alkaline Vertisols by Acidified Incubation.

Acid-soluble soil phosphorus (P) is a potential resource in P-limited agricultural systems that may become critical as global P sources decrease in the future. The fate of P in three alkaline Vertisols, a major agricultural soil type, after acidic incubation was investigated using synchrotron-based K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, geochemical modeling, wet chemistry soil extraction, and a P sorption index. Increases in labile P generally coincided with decreased stability and dissolution of calcium phosphate (CaP) minerals. However, only a minor proportion of the CaP dissolved in each soil was labile. In two moderate-P soils (800 mg P kg-1), XANES indicated that approximately 160 mg kg-1 was repartitioned to sorbed phases at pH 5.1 of one soil and at pH 4.4 of the second; however, only 40 and 28% were labile, respectively. In a high-P soil (8900 mg P kg-1), XANES indicated a decrease in P of 1170 mg kg-1 from CaP minerals at pH 3.8, of which approximately only 33% was labile. Phosphorus mobilized by agricultural practices without concurrent uptake by plants may be repartitioned to sorbed forms that are not as plant-available as prior to acidification.

XANES Demonstrates the Release of Calcium Phosphates from Alkaline Vertisols to Moderately Acidified Solution.

Calcium phosphate (CaP) minerals may comprise the main phosphorus (P) reserve in alkaline soils, with solubility dependent on pH and the concentration of Ca and/or P in solution. Combining several techniques in a novel way, we studied these phenomena by progressively depleting P from suspensions of two soils (low P) using an anion-exchange membrane (AEM) and from a third soil (high P) with AEM together with a cation-exchange membrane. Depletions commenced on untreated soil, then continued as pH was manipulated and maintained at three constant pH levels: the initial pH (pHi) and pH 6.5 and 5.5. Bulk P K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy revealed that the main forms of inorganic P in each soil were apatite, a second more soluble CaP mineral, and smectite-sorbed P. With moderate depletion of P at pHi or pH 6.5, CaP minerals became more prominent in the spectra compared to sorbed species. The more soluble CaP minerals were depleted at pH 6.5, and all CaP minerals were exhausted at pH 5.5, showing that the CaP species present in these alkaline soils are soluble with decreases of pH in the range achievable by rhizosphere acidification.

Complex Forms of Soil Organic Phosphorus-A Major Component of Soil Phosphorus.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for life, an innate constituent of soil organic matter, and a major anthropogenic input to terrestrial ecosystems. The supply of P to living organisms is strongly dependent on the dynamics of soil organic P. However, fluxes of P through soil organic matter remain unclear because only a minority (typically <30%) of soil organic P has been identified as recognizable biomolecules of low molecular weight (e.g., inositol hexakisphosphates). Here, we use (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the speciation of organic P in soil extracts fractionated into two molecular weight ranges. Speciation of organic P in the high molecular weight fraction (>10 kDa) was markedly different to that of the low molecular weight fraction (<10 kDa). The former was dominated by a broad peak, which is consistent with P bound by phosphomonoester linkages of supra-/macro-molecular structures, whereas the latter contained all of the sharp peaks that were present in unfractionated extracts, along with some broad signal. Overall, phosphomonoesters in supra-/macro-molecular structures were found to account for the majority (61% to 73%) of soil organic P across the five diverse soils. These soil phosphomonoesters will need to be integrated within current models of the inorganic-organic P cycle of soil-plant terrestrial ecosystems.