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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment
Published on: July 22, 2019
Phosphorus uptake by Zea mays L. is quantitatively predicted by infinite sink extraction of soil P
Jakob Santner1, Martina Mannel2, Leigh D Burrell3
1Vienna, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Institute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Konrad-Lorenz-Strasse 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria. jakob.santner@boku.ac.at.
Background And Aims:
Sink extraction of phosphorus from soils has been utilised to study soil P desorption kinetics and as index of plant availability, but not for quantitative prediction of P uptake by plants. Here we investigate the potential of a modified sink extraction method for determining P desorption kinetics and for quantifying plant available soil P.
Methods:
Modified diffusive gradients in thin films samplers were immersed in shaken soil suspensions for long-term extraction of soil P. Results were evaluated in terms of P desorption kinetics and compared to the P uptake of Zea mays L. and standard soil extracts.
Results:
In contrast to literature reports, four of the six studied soils only showed a rapid, but not a slowly desorbing P fraction. The quantity of P desorbed by long-term sink extraction not only showed the highest correlation to plant P uptake, but also matched plant P uptake quantitatively.
Conclusions:
Our data indicates that soils with only a fast desorbing P fraction might exist. Sink extraction methods have the potential to quantitatively predict plant P uptake. Furthermore, they could become valuable research tools for understanding P acquisition and might serve as a benchmark for calibrating soil P tests.
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