Sustainable Management of Phosphorus in Agriculture for Environmental Conservation
Tahsina Sharmin Hoque, Deepranjan Sarkar, Rahul Datta, Mohammad Golam Kibria, Rafi Ullah, Nazeer Ahmed, Mohammad Anwar Hossain, Asim Masood, Naser A. Anjum
Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and development. Although the P-concentration in soil is 1000 folds higher than in plants, it is rarely available for plant uptake due to low diffusion and high fixation rate in soil. Hence, plants experience P-deficiency in the absence of P-fertilization, which may cause approximately a 30–40% decrease in crop yield. This highlights the importance of using a large amount of phosphate fertilizers to meet crop demands. As P-fertilizer is derived from a nonrenewable and finite source of rock phosphate, this resource is decreasing over time. In addition, farmers are applying P-fertilizers randomly without considering the soil stock, which leads to the loss of P-resources. The low P-use-efficiency (PUE) of plants in the field condition (15–20%) highlights that most of the soil-applied P remains unavailable to plants, and excess P causes ground and surface water contamination (i.e., eutrophication) through leaching and runoff, which ultimately results in environmental pollution. Therefore, it is crucial to apply P-fertilizers considering the soil test value and PUE to protect the environment from contamination and sustainable management of P-resources. This chapter mainly focuses on the sustainable management of P in agricultural fields for environmental conservation.