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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Phosphorus Condition and Its Affecting Factors
in Maize Fields of the Agro-Pastoral
Ecotone in Northern Shaanxi
1
State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Xi’an University of Technology,
Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi’an University of Technology,
Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
Submission date: 2026-01-26
Final revision date: 2026-04-25
Acceptance date: 2026-06-05
Online publication date: 2026-10-07
Corresponding author
Ni Wang
State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Phosphorus (P) and its availability frequently limit crop productivity in arid and semi-arid regions.
However, the status of P accumulation and availability in the crucial agro-pastoral ecotone of northern
Shaanxi remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we investigated soil P levels in typical
maize croplands within this region to elucidate its current condition and identify key affecting factors.
The results showed that while the soil total P was moderate (mean: 0.48 g kg-¹), the available P (Olsen P)
was low (mean: 5.43 mg kg-¹), substantially below the threshold required for high-yield maize. A strong
positive correlation was observed between soil organic matter (SOM) and P fractions, particularly with
Olsen P. Furthermore, redundancy analysis confirmed that SOM was the most critical explanatory
variable, accounting for 76.62% of the total variance in soil P. The currently low level of regional SOM,
which is closely linked to soil pH, clay, and metal mineral content, indicates a significant potential for
its improvement. In conclusion, the maize fields in this region possess a sufficient total P pool but are
constrained by low P availability. Therefore, enhancing SOM, for instance, through manure application,
is a crucial strategy to improve P availability for sustainable maize production.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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