Influence of phosphate retention capacity on the potential plant availability of struvite fertiliser in acidic grassland soils

Florencia De Lucca Agrelo; Leo Condron; Jim Moir

doi:10.1071/SR25019

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 63(4)

Influence of phosphate retention capacity on the potential plant availability of struvite fertiliser in acidic grassland soils

Florencia De Lucca Agrelo

^A ^* , Leo Condron

^A and Jim Moir ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand.

^* Correspondence to: Flor.deluccaagrelo@lincolnuni.ac.nz

Handling Editor: Tandra Fraser

Soil Research 63, SR25019 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR25019

Submitted: 4 February 2025 Accepted: 23 May 2025 Published: 13 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Sustainable agricultural production relies on efficient phosphorus (P) management due to the finite nature of phosphate rock reserves, increasing fertiliser costs for farmers, and environmental concerns associated with P losses. Struvite, a P fertiliser recovered from wastewater, appears to be an alternative to conventional water soluble-P fertilisers.

Aims

We aimed to evaluate changes in the concentration of soil available P in response to the application of struvite in three New Zealand acidic soils with varied P retention capacities.

Methods

A plant-less incubation was carried out for 63 days where struvite, two water soluble-P fertilisers, and reactive phosphate rock were applied at two rates to three contrasting soils.

Key results

Regardless of soil type, struvite significantly increased Olsen-P concentrations, comparable to conventional P fertilisers. P retention capacity influenced P release patterns, with Pallic soil exhibiting the highest Olsen-P increases due to its low P retention. P release from struvite was rapid but showed sustained availability in Pallic soil compared to declines in Allophanic and Brown soils.

Conclusions

Struvite showed similar fertiliser-P behaviour in soils with contrasting P retention capacity generating changes in Olsen-P like those from water-soluble P fertilisers.

Implications

Further research is necessary to investigate the suitability of struvite as an alternative P fertiliser source for New Zealand agriculture.

Keywords: acidic soils, circular economy, phosphorus fertiliser solubility, phosphorus recovery, soil fertility, sustainability, wastewater, water-soluble fertilisers.

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