“…Indeed, phosphorous fertilizer was applied close to the plants and probably, the P forms like H 2 PO 4 − e HPO 4 2− got close to the external surface of roots, mainly by diffusion, enhancing the absorption of P from the soil solution [33,34]. Thus, the longer root length observed in the 0-0.2 m soil layer, close to the zone enriched with P, enhanced the establishment and growth in height of plants [12,28], as observed by the positive correlation among variables, such as root length, diameter and volume, with plant height in the PCA.…”