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Transformations and movement of P in the rhizosphere

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Summary

Wheat plants labelled with33P were grown in thin layers of soil amended with32P-labelled fertiliser. Roots were separated from the soil during plant growth by a porous membrane to overcome difficulties in measuring microbial P in rhizosphere soil. Over the 22 day growth period, net movement of33P out of healthy growing roots varied from 0.9–4.9% of the total33P translocated to the root. Over the same period the plants took up 12.0% and the microbial biomass 14.1% of the fertiliser32P. On drying and rewetting of the soil after the plants were harvested, a large proportion of root P moved into soil fractions while32P appeared to accumulate in the biomass and stable P forms.

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McLaughlin, M.J., Alston, A.M. & Martin, J.K. Transformations and movement of P in the rhizosphere. Plant Soil 97, 391–399 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02383229

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