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8 October 2019 Phosphorus accumulation in Canadian agricultural soils over 30 yr
Keith Reid, Kimberley D. Schneider
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Abstract

Phosphorus (P) loss to freshwater is a key driver of eutrophication, and understanding the scale and spatial distribution of potential P sources is a key pre-requisite for implementing policies for P management to minimize environmental impacts. Soil test P (STP) is a useful indicator of the accumulation of P in soils, but these data are not readily available for most agricultural land in Canada, so the cumulative P balance (P inputs as manure or fertilizer minus removal of P in crops) is calculated as a proxy for this value. Cumulative P balance is an important calculation within the indicator of risk of water contamination by P, so allocations of manure and fertilizer P to cropland were updated within the calculation of P balance, and for Ontario, data from 1961 to 1980 were added to account for P applications during that period. The STP concentrations were calculated from the resulting cumulative P balances. When compared with reported STP concentrations, the predicted concentrations showed a statistically significant regression at the national (R2 = 78%) and provincial scale (Ontario, R2 = 36%; Prince Edward Island, R2 = 36%; Manitoba, R2 = 72%; British Columbia, R2 = 40%). There was significant variation in the cumulative P balance across Canada, with the highest values corresponding with areas of high livestock density, whereas large zones of P deficit were detected across the Prairies.

Copyright remains with the author(s) or their institution(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Keith Reid and Kimberley D. Schneider "Phosphorus accumulation in Canadian agricultural soils over 30 yr," Canadian Journal of Soil Science 99(4), 520-532, (8 October 2019). https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2019-0023
Received: 26 February 2019; Accepted: 26 September 2019; Published: 8 October 2019
KEYWORDS
farming systems
nutrient balances
phosphorus
water quality
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