Correlation of soil phosphorus tests with the response of irrigated perennial pasture to phosphorus fertilizer

Abstract

The level of soil phosphorus and the response of irrigated perennial pasture to phosphorus fertilizer were measured on 33 sites in the Goulburn Valley of northern Victoria. Eleven of the 33 sites were found to have Olsen P values above 10 p.p.m. and Colwell P values above 30 p.p.m. Of these 11, 9 did not give a pasture response to superphosphate and 2 gave a relatively small response. Functions of the form Y = a - be-CX (where Y = total pasture yield over 12 months (t ha-1), X = rate of superphosphate application (t ha-1), and a, b and c are constants respectively denoting maximum yield, maximum response, and the rate at which maximum yield is approached) were fitted to the yield data from those sites at which a response did occur. b was found to be correlated with a number of soil tests, the highest correlation coefficient being -0.74 for Colwell P. a was significantly correlated with some tests (P < 0.01) but was generally less predictable, and c gave very low correlation coefficients with all soil tests.