Soil Temperature Effects on Root Growth and Phosphorus Uptake by Corn

Abstract

Abstract Temperature affects each of the mechanisms involved in P uptake by corn. The extent to which each reduces P uptake, however, has not been resolved. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of temperature on each of the parameters used in a mechanistic mathematical model that predicts P uptake and then to use the model in a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the temperature dependency of parameters critical for predicting P uptake by corn. The effect of soil temperature, 18 and 25°C, and soil P status on root growth and P uptake by corn ( Zea mays L.) was investigated in a series of pot experiments in a controlled climate chamber. Total yield of corn was 4‐ to 6.4‐fold, root growth 2.6‐ to 5.1‐fold, and P uptake 2‐ to 4‐fold greater at 25°C than at 18°C. Increasing air temperature to 25°C while holding soil temperature at 18°C resulted in a 2.7‐fold increase in root growth and a 2.2‐fold increase in P uptake. Predicted P uptake calculated with a mechanistic mathematical model by corn grown for 8, 15, and 21 d agreed with observed P uptake at both 18°C ( y = 0.97 x + 3.64, r = 0.99**) and 25°C ( y = 1.07 x − 1.86, r = 0.99**). In the sensitivity analysis the parameters used to calculate P uptake at 18°C were changed individually to those measured at 25°C and then P uptake was again predicted. Rate of root growth, which increased 4.97‐fold when temperature increased from 18 to 25°C, had the most pronounced effect on calculated P uptake, indicating that this was the primary reason low temperature reduced P uptake by corn. The parameters describing the movement of P to the root surface and P uptake at the root surface appear to play only a minor role in causing reduced P uptake by corn at low temperature.