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Article: Comparing simple methods for measuring phosphate sorption by soils.(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Australian Journal of Soil Research
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 CSIRO Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction
Although the buffering capacity of a soil for phosphate has a large effect on optimum phosphate fertiliser rates, analytical laboratories are reluctant to measure sorption curves. They argue that the cost of the several analyses required can seldom be recovered. Simple indexes of the buffering capacity are therefore used. These may be divided into two categories. The first comprises
indirect measures such as the iron dissolved by ammonium oxalate solution which is used by the largest commercial laboratory in Western Australia. The second category comprises measures of buffering capacity derived not from a sorption curve but from a single ...