Soil sampling depth impact on phosphorus yield response prediction in winter wheat

• Published in: Agricultural & environmental letters Vol. 7; no. 1
• Main Authors: Reed, Vaughn, Finch, Bronc, Souza, Joao, Watkins, Patrick, Arnall, Brian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2022; Wiley
• Subjects: Acidic soils; Acidity; Agricultural production; Crop yield; Fertilizers; Nutrients; Phosphorus; Root zone; Sampling; Soil analysis; Soil management; Soil profiles; Soil properties; Soil sampling; Soil testing; Triticum aestivum; Wheat; Winter wheat; United States > US; Oklahoma
• ISSN: 2471-9625; 2471-9625
• DOI: 10.1002/ael2.20067

Nutrient stratification of no‐till managed soil can affect soil test analysis levels of plant‐available phosphorus (P). Research has suggested sampling to different depths due to soil acidity, but little work has been conducted to investigate any change to sampling recommendations for immobile nutrients. The objective of this study was to determine the soil sampling depth that had the greatest relationship with yield response to fertilizer‐P. The depths sampled in this study were 0–5, 0–10, 0–15, 10–30, 5–10, 5–15, 10–15, and 15–30 cm. The results indicated that the top 15 cm of a soil profile had the greatest amount of Mehlich 3 extractable P (M3P) available and that the 5‐to‐10 and 5‐to‐15‐cm depths had the highest correlation with relative yield. Soil depths outside of the proposed root zone of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (15–30 cm) had the lowest correlation with yield response.
Core Ideas
0‐to‐15, 5‐to‐15, and 5‐to‐10‐cm soil samples provided the models with the highest coefficient of determination of all models tested.
Soil samples outside of depth of root zone (15–30 cm) had the lowest correlation with yield response.
The majority of Mehlich 3 extractable phosphorus is found in the top 15 cm of the profile and increased with shallower depths.