Effect of drying and rewetting on phosphorus transformations in red brown soils with different soil organic matter content

In this study, the effect of drying and rewetting on native P transformations in two red brown soils with different management history was investigated. Three treatments, T1 (constantly moist), T2 (dried for 4 days and then kept dry), T3 (rewetted after 4 days drying) were used. Drying and rewetting caused a rapid increase in microbial P (Pm) and labile organic P (labile Po) within 1 day and a gradual increase in available inorganic P (Colwell). These increases were only temporarily, as Pm and labile Po decreased with time and were at the same level as in the constantly moist soil by the end of the incubation period of 21 days. The effect of drying and rewetting on P transformations strongly depended on soil organic matter content, being more pronounced in the soil with high organic matter content, compared to the soil with low soil organic matter content. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.