Phosphate enrichment in the sandy loam soils of West-Flanders, Belgium
- Author
- J De Smet, Georges Hofman (UGent) , Jean Vanderdeelen, Marc Van Meirvenne (UGent) and Leon Baert
- Organization
- Abstract
- The last three decades, pig breeding has evolved towards a specialised, large scaled, land independent bio-industry in the province of West-Flanders. Subsequently, in certain regions, very high amounts of liquid pig manure are produced each year. This pig slurry is used as a fertilizer at a rate which very often exceeds normal agricultural practices. Because of the nonequilibrium between the phosphorus crop requirements and the P-inputs, phosphates accumulate in the soil. However, the phosphate sorption capacity of a soil is limited. Once the sorption capacity is exceeded, phosphates will start leaching through the soil profile. Since, during winter, in these areas, the groundwater table is situated at a depth of less than 1.0 m, phosphate breakthrough might take place. In the sandy loam soil region (+/- 1000 km(2)) of the province, an inventory of the P status of the soil was made. The region was sampled according to a regular grid with 2 km intervals. At random, some sample points were only 500 m apart. This resulted in a total of 296 samplings. In view of fertilizer recommendations, lactate extractable P of the plough layer (0-30 cm) was determined. A maximum value of 101 mg P 100 g(-1) of air dry soil, a minimum value of 6 mg P 100 g(-1) and a median value of 31 mg P 100 g(-1) were found, indicating that for half of the spots monitored, the P status of the soil is high to very high. An oxalate extraction was done to investigate the phosphate saturation of the soil profile (0-90 cm). Based on a critical phosphate saturation degree of 30%, more than half of the soil profiles are phosphate saturated. Phosphate leaching at a rate higher than 0.1 mg ortho-P l(-1) at a depth of 90 cm can be expected. Therefore, a restriction of the P fertilization should be highly recommended. The geostatistical processing of the data using block kriging resulted in a spatial continuous estimate of the phosphate saturation degree. A good agreement was found between the pig density and the phosphate saturation degree of the soil profile.
- Keywords
- eutrophication, OPTIMAL INTERPOLATION, leaching, inventory, phosphorus, saturation, TRANSPORT, SORPTION, KINETICS, MODEL
Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-188085
- MLA
- De Smet, J., et al. “Phosphate Enrichment in the Sandy Loam Soils of West-Flanders, Belgium.” FERTILIZER RESEARCH, vol. 43, no. 1–3, 1996, pp. 209–15.
- APA
- De Smet, J., Hofman, G., Vanderdeelen, J., Van Meirvenne, M., & Baert, L. (1996). Phosphate enrichment in the sandy loam soils of West-Flanders, Belgium. FERTILIZER RESEARCH, 43(1–3), 209–215.
- Chicago author-date
- De Smet, J, Georges Hofman, Jean Vanderdeelen, Marc Van Meirvenne, and Leon Baert. 1996. “Phosphate Enrichment in the Sandy Loam Soils of West-Flanders, Belgium.” FERTILIZER RESEARCH 43 (1–3): 209–15.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- De Smet, J, Georges Hofman, Jean Vanderdeelen, Marc Van Meirvenne, and Leon Baert. 1996. “Phosphate Enrichment in the Sandy Loam Soils of West-Flanders, Belgium.” FERTILIZER RESEARCH 43 (1–3): 209–215.
- Vancouver
- 1.De Smet J, Hofman G, Vanderdeelen J, Van Meirvenne M, Baert L. Phosphate enrichment in the sandy loam soils of West-Flanders, Belgium. FERTILIZER RESEARCH. 1996;43(1–3):209–15.
- IEEE
- [1]J. De Smet, G. Hofman, J. Vanderdeelen, M. Van Meirvenne, and L. Baert, “Phosphate enrichment in the sandy loam soils of West-Flanders, Belgium,” FERTILIZER RESEARCH, vol. 43, no. 1–3, pp. 209–215, 1996.
@article{188085,
abstract = {{The last three decades, pig breeding has evolved towards a specialised, large scaled, land independent bio-industry in the province of West-Flanders. Subsequently, in certain regions, very high amounts of liquid pig manure are produced each year. This pig slurry is used as a fertilizer at a rate which very often exceeds normal agricultural practices. Because of the nonequilibrium between the phosphorus crop requirements and the P-inputs, phosphates accumulate in the soil. However, the phosphate sorption capacity of a soil is limited. Once the sorption capacity is exceeded, phosphates will start leaching through the soil profile. Since, during winter, in these areas, the groundwater table is situated at a depth of less than 1.0 m, phosphate breakthrough might take place. In the sandy loam soil region (+/- 1000 km(2)) of the province, an inventory of the P status of the soil was made. The region was sampled according to a regular grid with 2 km intervals. At random, some sample points were only 500 m apart. This resulted in a total of 296 samplings. In view of fertilizer recommendations, lactate extractable P of the plough layer (0-30 cm) was determined. A maximum value of 101 mg P 100 g(-1) of air dry soil, a minimum value of 6 mg P 100 g(-1) and a median value of 31 mg P 100 g(-1) were found, indicating that for half of the spots monitored, the P status of the soil is high to very high. An oxalate extraction was done to investigate the phosphate saturation of the soil profile (0-90 cm). Based on a critical phosphate saturation degree of 30%, more than half of the soil profiles are phosphate saturated. Phosphate leaching at a rate higher than 0.1 mg ortho-P l(-1) at a depth of 90 cm can be expected. Therefore, a restriction of the P fertilization should be highly recommended. The geostatistical processing of the data using block kriging resulted in a spatial continuous estimate of the phosphate saturation degree. A good agreement was found between the pig density and the phosphate saturation degree of the soil profile.}},
author = {{De Smet, J and Hofman, Georges and Vanderdeelen, Jean and Van Meirvenne, Marc and Baert, Leon}},
issn = {{0167-1731}},
journal = {{FERTILIZER RESEARCH}},
keywords = {{eutrophication,OPTIMAL INTERPOLATION,leaching,inventory,phosphorus,saturation,TRANSPORT,SORPTION,KINETICS,MODEL}},
language = {{eng}},
location = {{Salamanca, Spain}},
number = {{1-3}},
pages = {{209--215}},
title = {{Phosphate enrichment in the sandy loam soils of West-Flanders, Belgium}},
volume = {{43}},
year = {{1996}},
}