Shortcut Approach Alternative to the Step‐by‐Step Conventional Soil Phosphorus Fractionation Method

In an attempt to characterize the phosphorus (P)–supplying capacity of a soil and to understand the dynamics of soil P, a procedure was followed whereby consecutive extraction procedures were carried out on a soil sample, first by dialysis membrane tubes filled with hydrous ferric oxide (DMT‐HFO), followed by subsequent P fractionation procedure. However, this combined method is lengthy and time‐consuming, and an approach to shorten these P desorption studies in soils was important. The major objective of this article, therefore, was to present a shortcut method as an alternative approach to the combined fractionation method. Comparison of the sum of DMT‐HFO‐Pi, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)‐Pi, sodium hydroxide (NaOH)‐Pi, D/hydrochloric acid (HCl)‐Pi, and C/HCl‐Pi extracted by a conventional step‐by‐step method with the sum of DMT‐HFO‐Pi and a single D/HCl‐Pi extraction as a shortcut approach for all extraction periods resulted in a very strong and significant correlations. Both these methods were...