Relationship of soil phosphorus with uranium in grassland mineral soils in Ireland using soils from a long-term phosphorus experiment and a National Soil Database
2009
Tunney, Hubert | Stojanović, Mirjana | Mrdaković Popić, Jelena | McGrath, David | Zhang, Chaosheng
Phosphorus fertilizer contains contaminants that may increase the content in the soil and in plants. The relationship between soil P and soil uranium (U) was investigated to determine potential effects of P-fertilizer use. This study is based on a long-term experiment (38 years with 0, 15, and 30 kg fertilizer P ha⁻¹ y⁻¹) for beef production on grassland at Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, Wexford, Ireland and also on soils from a National Soil Database (NSD). The NSD soils were taken at fixed locations on a predetermined grid system at the density of one sample every 50 km². Of the 1310 samples in the NSD, the 760 grassland mineral soils were selected for this study. The aim was to determine to what extent P fertilizer increases the content of U in the soil. The results showed that there was a small but significant increase in soil U in the high-P treatments, which contained high levels of soil P, in the long-term field experiment. The results from the NSD showed that there was not a significant relationship between extractable (Morgan's) soil test P (STP) and U. It is concluded that the use of chemical P fertilizer at normal rates used in agriculture in Ireland is not a major threat to U content of soil based on the results of this study. There was a significant relationship between total P and STP, in the NSD, with the latter making up approx. 1% of the former. Soil available P increased with soil pH, probably reflecting the use of chemical P fertilizer and lime on agricultural soils.
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