An experiment to look into the influence of aging of phosphorus (P) fertilizer, P forms, P levels

and rainfall on the yield and P uptake by pasture grass Setaria splendida on a Bungor Series soil

(Typic Paleudult) was carried out. It was concluded that P treatment levels have more influence than

the aging and forms of P fertilizer used on the dry matter yield and P uptake by Setaria. Variations in

rainfall during the growing period of Setaria could account for up to a difference of39% in dry matter

yield and 20% of the P taken up

Aminuddin, H.

Vanderdeelen,  J.

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

Pe~taDika 100), 11 -16 (1987)The Influence of Aging of P Fertilizer and Rainfall onthe Yield and P Uptake by SetariaAMINUDDIN H. andJ. VANDERDEELEN!Department of Soil Science,Faculty of Agriculture,Universiti Pertanian Malaysia,43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.Key words: Paging; P fertilizer; rainfall; P uptake; dry matter.ABSTRAKSatu kajian untuk meneliti pengaruh jangka masa pembajaan, bentuk, paras baja fosforus (P)dan hujan terhadap hasil dan pengambilan P oleh rumput pastura Setaria.splendida pada tanah SiriBungor telah dilakukan. Didapati paras rawatan baja P memberi pengaruh yang lebih daripadajangka masa rawatan dan bentuk P yang digunakan terhadap hasil berat kering dan pengambilan Poleh Setaria. Perbezaan hujan semasa pertumbuhan Setaria dapat membawa kepada perbezaansebanyak 39% hasil berat kering dan 20% pengambilan P.ABSTRACTAn experiment to look into the influence ofaging ofphosphorus (P) fertilizer, Pforms, P levelsand rainfall on the yield and P uptake by pasture grass Setaria splendida on a Bungor Series soil(Typic Paleudult) was carried out. It was concluded that P treatment levels have more influence thanthe aging and forms of Pfertilizer used on the dry matter yield and P uptake by Setaria. Variations inrainfall during the growing period ofSetaria could account for up to a difference of39% in dry matteryield and 20% of the P taken up.INTRODUCTIONWeather conditions under which crops aregrown affect their yield. For this reason, we can-not compare yield of crops of similar treatmentsgrowing at different periods due to the differentweather conditions the crops have been subject-ed to. Russel (1975) and Seif and Paderson(1978) concluded that 65 - 85% variation incrop yield can occur due to rainfall variability.Rainfall has been singled out as the main factorof weather affecting yield of crops in Malaysia(Nievwolt, 1978; Foster et al., 1981). In this res-pect, the intensity and distribution of rainfall areimportant.Fertilizer application either as rockphosphate or superphosphate forms are oftengiven in excess to plants compared to the needresulting in an accumulation of P fertilizer (Lingand Mainstone, 1982). The accumulated P ferti-lizer or residual P does provide the P require-ments of succeeding crops or to the present cropat later stages of gr~wtn.A study comparing double superphosphateand rock phosphate in the field planted withrubber, a deep rooted plant showed that rockphosphate gave a higher residual effect (Pushpa-rajah et al., 1977). However, the residual per-formances of the P fertilizer in the course of timeI Physical and Radiobiological Chemistry Laboratory. University of Ghent. Belgium.AMI UDDIN H. A D J. VA DERDEELEl\:RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONExperimental LayoutA split plot field design consisting of four wholeplots were used. It consisted of two intervals infertilizer treatments (recent and aged P), three Plevels (0, 150 and 300kg P/ha), two P sources(Rock phosphate (RP) and Triple superphos-phate (TSP» with four replicates. Each replicateof the treatments was randomly distributed with-in each whole plot (Details of the treatments arepresented in Table 2). Each plot has a size of8 X 3m. Plots receiving aged P treatments werefertilized a year earlier than the recent Pfertilizer treated plots. Phosphate fertilizer wasbroadcasted and rotovated into the plough layer(20cm) using a pedestrian rotovator. Setariasplendida grass was planted by the use of 9cmlong cuttings. Harvesting of Setaria was carriedout every two months on a 6 X 2m area, freshweight taken and a subsample of about lkg wastaken to the laboratory for dry matter weightdetermination. The subsample was grind, wetashed and P determined by the use of the autoanalyser (Aminuddin, 1985).Rainfall data of the Puchong Farm wasobtained from the weather station manned bythe Soil Science Department, UniversitiPertanian Malaysia.Yield ojSetaria Affected by Aging andP TreatmentsThe one year difference in the time of fertilizer Papplication did not affect the dry matter yield ofSetaria (Table 3). The mean dry matter yield ofthe first harvest for the aged P plots was 1. 6tons/ha while the recent P application resultedTABLE 1The physical and chemical characteristics of the Bungor soil at the Puchong FarmMATERIALS AND METHODSMethodologyIn order to look at the effect of aging of P ferti-lizers on plant performance, the design of theexperiment should exclude the influence of thevariability of the weather on the plant para-meters observed. This can be achieved by havinga time interval between the fertilizer P applica-tions. In our experiment the 'Aged P' plots wereleft bare until the 'Recent P' plots were treated.Planting of crops was done simultaneously onboth P treated plots one year after the applica-tion of the 'Aged P' treatments. With this set up,differences in the plant parameters observedwere due to the effect of P applications intervaland P treatments only.Having determined the influence of intervalof P applications on the plant components, theinfluence of rainfall on those parameters couldalso be deduced. This is the difference in theplant performances between the harvests minusdifferences due to interval and P treatments.and its contribution towards the requirement ofannual crops with a shallow root system has notbeen dealt with in depth under Malaysian fieldconditions. It is therefore the objective of thisstudy to look into the influence of aging of Pfertilizer and rainfall on the yield and P uptakeby Setan'a grass.SoilThis study was carried out at the UniversitiPertanian Malaysia farm at Puchong which isabout 15km from Serdang. The soil is BungorSeries, classified in soil taxonomy as TypicPaleudult. The physical and chemical charac-teristics are given in Table 1.%N %C C.E.C.(meq/lOOg)Bray 2P Total P(Jig Pig)5.0 .08 1.94 9.2 6.9 208Exchangable bases (meq/100g) Particle size distribution (%)Na K Ca Mg clay silt sand.15 .32 .73 .36 48.7 16.4 34.912 PERTANIKA VOL. 10 O. I, 1987TilE INFLUENCI: OF AGING OF P FERTILIZER AND RAINFALL ON THE YIELD AND P UPTAKE BY SETARIATreatmentsControlTSP (19.04%P)RP (13.55%P)Harvet No. IntervalAged P(A)Recent (R)Mean2 ARMean3 ARMean4 ARMeanARMeanTABLE 2Fertilizer treatmentsRate Per plot basis(kg P/ha) (kg fert./24 m 2)o (PO) 0150 (SI) 1.89300 (S2) 3.78150 (Rl) 2.66300 (R2) 5.32TABLE 3P application interval on dry matter yieldP R] S, R 2 S20tons per ha1.03 1.85 1.45 1.74 1.941.16 1.63 1.69 1.76 1.661.10 • 1.74 b 1.57 b 1. 75 b 1.80 b1.00 1.81 1.47 '1.45 1.371.01 1.76 1.29 1.80 1.051.00 • 1.79 c 1. 38 .bc 1.62 be 1. 21 .b1.61 2.17 1.85 1. 78 2.201.45 2.49 2.00 1.99 1.921.53 • 2.33 b 1.92 .b 1.88 .b 2.06 b0.95 1.64 1.52 1. 91 1.740.88 1.86 1.65 1.65 1.760.91 • 1. 75 b 1.59 b 1.78 b I. 77 b1.22 1.18 1.34 1. 73 1.610.99 1.39 1.67 2.00 1.891.11' 1.28 .b 1.50 be 1.86 e 1.75 ''For this and subsequent tables, means on the same row followed by the same superscript are not significantly different usingDMRT at P = 0.05.in 1.58 tonsfha. No differences in dry matteryield values were observed between the aged andrecent applications in the second and subsequentharvests.P treatment levels, however, affected the drymatter yield values. PO plots registered thelowest dry matter yield in all the harvests. Thiswas significantly lower than the rest of the Ptreated plots. Plots treated with 150kg P did notdiffer in dry matter yield with that of 300kgPfha. Sources of fertilizer P used either as RP orSP did not give differences in the results.P Uptake Values Affected by Aging andP TreatmentsP uptake values of Setaria were not affected bythe aging of the fertilizer P (Table 4). The oneyear difference in the time of P application didnot result in a difference in P uptake at the dif-ferent P treatment levels. This was recorded inall the five harvests. PO plots were significantlylower in P uptake values compared to the rest ofthe P treated plots. P treated plots were, how-ever, not different from each other. Forms of Pused did not influence P uptake by Setaria.PERTANIKA VOL. 10 NO. I, 1987 13Harvet No. IntervalAged P(A)Recent P(R)Mean2 ARMeanARMean4 ARMean5 ARMeanAMINUDDIN H. AND J. VANDERDEELETABLE 4P application interval on P uptakeP R 1 51 R 2 520kg P per ha1.70 3.90 3.10 4.20 4.401.80 3.30 3.80 4.20 4.301.70 a 3.60 b 3.10 b 4.20 b 4.30 b1.50 3.30 2.90 3.30 3.502.10 4.20 3.70 4.20 2.901.80 • 3.70 b 3.30 b 3.80 b 3.20 b2.55 4.98 4.11 4.61 3.832.22 4.59 3.57 3.82 5.342.38 • 4.78 b 3.84 b 4.22 b 4.58 b1.91 3.98 3.20 4.81 4.311.63 4.61 4.01 4.15 4.631.77 • 4.29 b 3.61 b 4.48 b 4.47 b1.89 2.84 3.34 5.14 4.432.21 4.54 5.59 5.47 7.522.05 • 3.69 b 4.31 be 5.3 cd 5.98 cInfluence ofRainfall on the YieldThe amount of rainfall received by the grassduring the period before each harvest is shown in~he last column in Table 5. For harvests one tofour, amounts of rainfall received were morethan 250mm for the eight weeks growth period.However, the amount of rainfall received by thefifth harvest grass was lOOmm only. AssumingTABLE 5The effect of P aging and rainfall on dry matter yield of SetariaHarvest P Mean DMY Difference Difference RainfallNo. interval (ton/ha) due to aging (%) due to rain (%) (mm)Aged.(A) 1.60 1.25 350Recent (R) 1.5813.572 A 1.42 2.82 310R 1.3838.93A 1.92 2.60 680R 1.97254 A 1.55 1.29 270R 1.573.315 A 1.42 11.83 100R 1.5914 PERTA lKA VOL. 10 NO. I. 1987rll~. INFLUENCE OF AGING OF P FERTILIZER AND RAINFALL ON THE YIELD AND P UPTAKE BY SETARIAHarvestNo.2345TABLE 6P uptake by Setaria due to P aging and rainfallP interval Mean P uptake Difference Difference due(kg/ha) due to aging (%) to rainfall (%)Aged (A) 3.46 0.57Recent (R) 3.489.81A 2.90 15.2R 3.4220.4A 4.02 2.81R 3.916.05A 3.64 4.67R 3.8112.65A 3.53 29.54R 5.01that the influence of the other components ofweather i.e. temperature and sunlight weresimilar during the growth period of the Setariagrass, it was observed that the highest amountof rainfall received by Setaria (harvest 3)resulted in the highest dry matter yield recordedamong the five harvests. The lowest amount ofrainfall recorded (fifth harvest) was sufficient togive a similar yield as those harvests receivinghigher rainfall indicating that 100mm of rainper harvest penod IS adequate for normal growthof Setaria. At this low level of rainfall too, theeffect of the interval in P application was clearlyseen. The difference in dry matter yield due tothe application interval was between 1 - 3% forthe first four harvests whereas differences in theyield due to rainfall during the eight weeksgrowing period for the same harvests was be-tween 13 - 40%. For the fifth harvest, differencein dry matter yield of Setaria due to the one yearapplication interval was about 12% whereas thedifference in yield due to the two months dif-ference in growing period (difference in rainfall)was 3.31 %.Influence ofRainfall on P UptakeThe influence of rainfall on P uptake values washigher than the influence of P applicationinterval for the first four harvests (Table 6). Thistrend was similar to that of the dry matter yieldvalues. The fifth harvest showed a higher dif-ference in P uptake value due to the interval in Papplication as compared to the rainfall.CONCLUSIONThis study showed that P treatments have moreinfluence than P aging on the dry matter yieldand P uptake by Setaria grown on a BungorSeries soil. Forms of P used have no influence onboth parameters recorded. Application of Pfertilizers resulted in a significant increase in drymatter yield and P uptake by Setaria. Studies inthe glasshouse (Zaharah, 1982) on Guinea grassshowed a similar response to P fertilization.Rainfall received by crops.dl,lring their growthperiod contributed substantially towards thevariation in dry matter yield produce and Puptake by Setaria. Rainfall differences canaccount for up to 39% in dry matter yield and20 % in P uptake by Setaria. The influence ofrainfall was found to be greater than the effect ofP aging on the dry matter yield and P uptake infour of the five harvests of Setana.PERTANIKAVOL. 10NO. I, 1987 15AMUNUOOI H. AND J. VA DERDEELENREFERENCESAMI uom . H. (1985): The effectiveness of rockand superphosph~te in a Malaysian soil. D.Agric. Sci. thesis Univ. Ghent, Belgium.FOSTER. H.L., TG. MALIK, M. AZNI IBRAHIM. ABO.RASHID AHMAO and RAMLI MOHO. NOR. (1981):Groundnut performance in the single rice cropareas of Peninsular Malaysia. Seminar on theManagement of Tropical Soils, Kuala Lumpur.March, 1981.LING, A.H. and B.]. MAINSTONE. (1982): Phosphaterequirements of cocoa on Malaysian inland soils.In: E. Pushparajah and H.A.H. Sharifuddin(eds.). Phosphorus and potassium in the Tropics.p. 365 - 383. Mal. Soc. Soil Sci., Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.NlEUWOLT, S. (1978): Tropical rainfall variability -the agroc1imatic impact. Agric. Environ. 7:135 - 148.PUSHPARAJAH. E., A.W. MAHMUD and C.H. LAU.(1977): Residual effect of applied phosphates onperformance of Hevea brasiliensis and Puerariaphaseoloides.]. Rubb. Res. Inst. Mal. 25(3):101-108.RUSSEL. ].S. (1975): Yield trend of different crops indifferent areas and reflections on the sources ofcrop yield improvement in the Australianenvironment.]. Aust. Inst. Agn·c. Sci. 41: 156-166.SElF. E. and D.G. PADERSON. (1978): Effects of rainfallon the grain yield of spring wheat with an appli-cation to the analysis of adaption. Aust.]. Agn·c.Res. 29: 1107 -1115.ZAHARAH, A.R. (1982): The fate of phosphate ferti-lizer in Malaysian soils and its effect on plantuptake. D. Agric. Sci. thesis. Univ. Ghent,Belgium.(Received 13 October, 1986)16 PERTANIKA VOL. 10 0.1,1987

The Influence of Aging of P Fertilizer and Rainfall on

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The Influence of Aging of P Fertilizer and Rainfall on the Yield and P Uptake by Setaria

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