Abstract
Crop production in Afghanistan suffers from limited phosphorus (P) availability, which severely hinders national agriculture sustainability. This study hypothesized that deep fertilizer placement could significantly enhance the uptake of immobile P and, thus, tissue P accumulation and crop yield. A two-year pot experiment growing two maize (Zea mays) hybrid cultivars (Xida-789 and Xida-211) was, therefore, conducted to test these hypotheses under three contrasting fertilizer placement methods (broadcast, side band, and deep band). In doing so, P concentrations in both maize tissues and soils were compared at 45, 60, and 115 days after sowing (DAS) under nine combinations of nitrogen (N) and P fertilizer rates (kg ha−1: N112P45, N112P60, N112P75, N150P45, N150P60, N150P75, N187P45, N187P60, N187P75). Results have shown that deep band placement significantly increased P uptake efficiency, leading to greater P concentration and accumulation in maize tissues compared to the other two fertilization methods. This improved P uptake was attributed to several factors associated with deep placement, including reduced P fixation, enhanced root access to P, and moisture availability for P uptake. Additionally, deep band placement combined with higher N application rates (N187 and N150) further enhanced plant P uptake by promoting P availability and utilization mechanisms. Deep band placement also resulted in significantly higher total soil P, Olsen-P, and P use efficiency than broadcast and side band methods, indicating a more efficient P fertilization strategy for maize that can improve growth and yield. This study also found positive correlations between P concentration in plant organs and soil Olsen-P, highlighting the importance of adequate soil P levels for optimal plant growth. Overall, our results have shown that deep band fertilizer placement emerged as a superior strategy for enhancing P uptake efficiency, utilization, and maize productivity compared to broadcast and side band placement. The outcome generated from the deep band fertilization by this greenhouse study can be recommended for field practices to optimize P fertilizer use and improve maize production while minimizing potential environmental P losses associated with broadcast fertilization.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Deep band placement significantly increased maize P uptake efficiency.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“deep band placement significantly increased P uptake efficiency”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Deep band placement raised maize tissue P concentration and accumulation versus other placements.
- Outcome
- P concentration and accumulation in maize tissuese0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Comparator
- the other two fertilization methodse0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“greater P concentration and accumulation in maize tissues compared to the other two fertilization methods”
Claim · model-written summary
Deep placement with higher N rates further enhanced plant P uptake.
- Treatment
- deep band placement combined with higher N application rates (N187 and N150)e0
- Outcome
- plant P uptakee0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“deep band placement combined with higher N application rates (N187 and N150) further enhanced plant P uptake”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Deep band placement yielded higher total soil P and Olsen-P than broadcast and side band placement.
- Treatment
- Deep band placemente0
- Outcome
- total soil P, Olsen-Pe0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- broadcast and side band methodse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Deep band placement also resulted in significantly higher total soil P, Olsen-P, and P use efficiency than broadcast and side band methods”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Deep band placement increased P use efficiency over broadcast and side band methods.
- Treatment
- Deep band placemente0
- Outcome
- P use efficiencye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- broadcast and side band methodse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Deep band placement also resulted in significantly higher total soil P, Olsen-P, and P use efficiency than broadcast and side band methods”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Plant organ P concentration was positively correlated with soil Olsen-P.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“positive correlations between P concentration in plant organs and soil Olsen-P”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend deep band fertilization for field practice to optimize P use and maize production.
- Outcome
- field practices to optimize P fertilizer use and improve maize productione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“deep band fertilization by this greenhouse study can be recommended for field practices to optimize P fertilizer use and improve maize production”
t0“Maize”
The same questions in other papers
nitrogen · nutrient: content · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
402 papers in the same direction as this paper · 83 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- no effect
- negative
485 papers more in this group
See all 489 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.