Investigation of the time-dependent presence and residual effects of nanohydroxyapatite and diammonium phosphate in a barley-barley-maize-maize cropping system

Abstract

In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted on predicting the depletion of phosphorus (P), thus researchers are increasingly inclined to explore different P sources that can be more readily absorbed by plants. The effectiveness of nanohydroxyapatite (nHAP) as an alternative P source was compared with diammonium phosphate (DAP). A barley-barley-maize-maize was sequentially grown, after which the residual effects of the P sources on the dry weight, P concentration, uptake, and P use efficiency (PUE) were determined for the first barley, and the subsequent barley-maize-maize plant. DAP was more effective than nHAP for investigated parameters. However, the impact of DAP decreased rapidly over time, particularly in the 3rd and 4th plantings. Incubation studies have shown a significant decrease in P following conventional P. DAP in the first month of the study resulted in 152 mg kg⁻¹ of available P in the soil, but by the 13th month, the concentration had decreased to 23.7 mg kg⁻¹. Similarly, in the samples taken after harvesting the plants, the plant-available P was 70 mg kg⁻¹ after the first barley, and subsequently determined as 43.3, 38.7, and 24.7 mg kg⁻¹ after the other plants, respectively. In the case of nHAP treatment, these values were determined as 5.62, 5.28, 8.60, and 4.65 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. In conclusion, nHAP can continuously provide P to the soil an alternative P. Therefore, it can be stated that the application of nanofertilizers hold promise as an effective approach for enhancing nutrient efficiency and mitigating environmental impacts on modern agricultural practices.

Keywords:

• Cereals
• nanophosphorus
• phosphorus use efficiency
• plant-available phosphorus

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.