DGT

phosphorus

air-drying

soil testing

Others

Speciation

Others

Environmental management

Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technology has been increasingly proved to be a promising tool for accurately predicting plant-available phosphorus (P) in soil using air-dried samples. However, the effects of the air-drying process on DGT-measured P are unknown compared to those of using moist samples in which plant roots survive throughout a growing season. We investigated the differences between the Olsen P and DGT P values in 58 air-dried and moist soil samples. The results showed that the discrepancy in the DGT P values between air-dried and moist samples increased with an increase in the organic P concentration in soils. It was presumed that the air-drying process converted some easily mineralized organic P into its inorganic form, thereby allowing it to be measured by the DGT method. The DGT P values in moist samples can be calculated from the values obtained in air-dried samples using the following equation: . However, the Olsen P values were highly correlated (R² = 0.95) when using air-dried and moist samples, although significant differences were observed. We concluded that the effects of air-drying on predicting soil available P using the Olsen P method can be neglected due to the high correlation relationship. The availability of easily mineralized organic P needs to be further explored.