Half of global agricultural soil phosphorus fertility derived from anthropogenic sources

Abstract

The global phosphorus (P) cycle has been dramatically altered by human activities through the use of mineral P fertilizers, often referred to anthropogenic P. The application of mineral P fertilizers on agricultural soils has driven the planet beyond its safe operating space but the extent to which the global P cycle relies on anthropogenic P has never been quantified. To fill this gap, we developed a model that simulates, at the country scale, the evolution of agricultural soil available P by distinguishing anthropogenic vs. natural P pools, and by accounting for farming practices, croplivestock recycling loop, and agricultural trade, over the 1950-2017 period. At the global scale we found that the anthropogenic signature of soil available P was 45% ± 8% in 2017. The national anthropogenic signatures varied according to the cumulative mineral P fertilizer use as well as to the soil P availability in 1950. Despite having different historical trajectories, Western Europe, North America and Asia displayed similar reliance on anthropogenic P, close to 60% in 2017. Conversely, African soil anthropogenic signature remained around 30%. Trade did not modify the simulated signatures. Overall, our results unravel the strong reliance of our soil fertility and food production systems on anthropogenic P resources.

Managing mineral phosphorus application with soil residual phosphorus reuse in Canada

“…As our model simulates soil P removal based on P applications (Equations 3 and 5), it tends to overestimate crop P removal when large P applications are employed. This observation aligns with a recent global‐scale study that also encountered challenges in reproducing temporal trends in 29% of the countries using the same model (Demay et al., 2023). This may also be ascribed to the methodology employed for initializing the initial soil labile P pool.…”

“… and refer to soil stable P pool in cropland and pastureland (Gg P year −1 ), respectively. refers to the percentage of P applications that transfers to soil labile P pool (%) (previous studies assumed to 80%, Demay et al., 2023; Liu et al., 2018). and refer to coefficient of crop P removal and grass P grazing (%), respectively.…”

“…k run (i, t) refers to runoff P loss coefficient (%). Soil P transfer rates between soil P pools are always considered as constants in previous studies (Demay et al, 2023;Mogollón et al, 2021;Van Meter et al, 2021). This study considered the soil properties (i.e., Fe and Al oxide concentrations, soil organic carbon, and soil taxonomy) in Canada's agricultural surface soils to incorporate the influence of soil chemical composition on the transfer of soil P between the labile and stable pools.…”

Thermodynamics-Oriented Crystal Growth Enables Lignocellulose-Enticed Nanostructured Hydroxyapatite with Boosted Phosphorus Fertilizer Utility

“…9,10 Phosphorus (P), as the second most important macronutrient, has always been poorly delivered by those CSFs to meet plant's need. 11 When meeting water in soil environments, these commercial phosphorus fertilizers (CPFs) fast liberate carried P. 12 As a result, P in the form of negatively charged phosphate groups can be preferably trapped by metallic cations in soil colloidal particles, hard accessed by plants to become legacy P. 13 To address a potential crisis of global P sustainability due to rapid depletion of limited phosphate rock (PR) reserves, seeking green alternatives to supply plant-needed P is appealing to overcome the intrinsic defect of CPFs. Nowadays, nanostructured hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been intensively studied as an innovative P supplier for plant growth due to its capacity of controlled P release, 14−16 especially within the surge of nanotechnologies to sustain a robust SIA.…”

“…When meeting water in soil environments, these commercial phosphorus fertilizers (CPFs) fast liberate carried P . As a result, P in the form of negatively charged phosphate groups can be preferably trapped by metallic cations in soil colloidal particles, hard accessed by plants to become legacy P . To address a potential crisis of global P sustainability due to rapid depletion of limited phosphate rock (PR) reserves, seeking green alternatives to supply plant-needed P is appealing to overcome the intrinsic defect of CPFs.…”