Improving the phosphorus budget of European agricultural soils

Despite phosphorus (P) being crucial for plant nutrition and thus food security, excessive P fertilization harms soil and aquatic ecosystems. Accordingly, the European Green Deal and derived strategies aim to reduce P losses and fertilizer consumption in agricultural soils. The objective of this study is to calculate a soil P budget, allowing the quantification of the P surpluses/deficits in the European Union (EU) and the UK, considering the major inputs (inorganic fertilizers, manure, atmospheric deposition, and chemical weathering) and outputs (crop production, plant residues removal, losses by erosion) for the period 2011–2019. The inorganic fertilizers and manure contribute almost equally as P inputs (mean 16 ± 2 kg P ha−1 yr−1 at 90 % confidence level) to agricultural soils, with high regional variations depending on farming practices, livestock density, and cropping systems. The P outputs came mainly from the exportation by the harvest of crop products and residues (97.5 %) and, secondly, by erosion. Using a sediment distribution model, we quantified the P fluxes to river basins and sea outlets. In the EU and UK, we estimated an average surplus of 0.8 kg P ha−1 yr−1 with high variability between countries with some regional variations. The P annual budget at regional scale showed ample possibility to improve P management by both reducing inputs in regions with high surplus (and P soil available) and rebalancing fertilization in those at risk of soil fertility depletion.

PANAGOS Panagiotis;  KOENINGER Julia;  BALLABIO Cristiano;  LIAKOS Leonidas;  MUNTWYLER Anna;  BORRELLI Pasquale;  LUGATO Emanuele; 

2022-09-28

ELSEVIER

JRC129578

0048-9697 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722058053,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC129578,   

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158706 (online),