Phosphorus Release from Unamended and Gypsum- or Biochar-Amended Soils under Simulated Snowmelt and Summer Flooding Conditions
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Dharmakeerthi, R. S.
Kumaragamage, D.
Goltz, D.
Indraratne, S. P.
Date
2020-03-30Citation
Dharmakeerthi, R. S., D. Kumaragamage, D. Goltz, and S. P. Indraratne. “Phosphorus Release from Unamended and Gypsum- or Biochar-Amended Soils under Simulated Snowmelt and Summer Flooding Conditions.” Journal of Environmental Quality 48(4) (July 2019):822–830. DOI: 10.2134/jeq2019.02.0091.
Abstract
Prolonged flooding changes the oxidation–reduction status of soils, often enhancing P release to overlying floodwater. We studied P release from unamended, gypsum-amended, and biochar-amended soils under simulated snowmelt flooding (previously frozen, cold flooding at +4°C) and summer flooding (unfrozen, warm flooding at +22°C) using two soils, Fyala clay (FYL-Cl) and Neuenberg sandy loam (NBG-SL), from Manitoba, Canada. Amended and unamended soils were packed into vessels and flooded under cold and warm temperatures in the laboratory. Pore water and floodwater samples were taken weekly for 6 wk after flooding (WAF) and thereafter biweekly for 10 WAF and analyzed for dissolved reactive P (DRP), pH, and cation concentrations. The NBG-SL showed a significantly higher DRP concentration in pore water and floodwater despite its low Olsen P content. Redox potential (Eh) decreased slowly under cold versus warm flooding; hence, redox-induced P release was substantially lower under cold flooding. Gypsum amendment significantly decreased the floodwater DRP concentrations in NBG-SL by 38 and 35% under cold and warm flooding, respectively, but had no significant effect in FYL-Cl, which had low DRP concentrations (<1.2 mg L−1) throughout the flooding period. Biochar amendment significantly increased floodwater DRP concentrations by 27 to 68% in FYL-Cl under cold and warm flooding, respectively, but had no significant effect in NBG-SL. The results indicate substantially less P release under cold than under warm flooding. Gypsum was effective in reducing floodwater DRP concentrations only at high DRP concentrations; thus, the effectiveness was greater under warm than under cold flooding conditions.