The project Phosphorus Cycling update for the Soil Security Programme Spring Meeting 2016.

1. 1
MicrobeSoil
Prof. Liz Wellington
Prof. David Scanlan
Dr Gary Bending
Dr Alex Jones
Dr Jonathan Moore
Dr Ian Lidbury
Andrew Murphy
Christopher Hale
Prof. Mark Tibbett
Dr Tandra Fraser
Plant
Dr John Hammond
Dr Andrew Goodall
PHOSPHORUS CYCLING IN THE
SOIL-MICROBE-PLANT CONTINUUM

2. Fertiliser P
Soil P
Organic/
microbial P
Non
labile
Soil P Labile P
Investigating phosphate cycling in agricultural soils
Plant driven processes
Microbial driven processes
How do these processes
interact?
Which microbes are driving this process?
How do these processes
change during the
season?
Can we reduce inputs,
by improving below
ground processes?
Can we manipulate the
root to optimise the
cycling of phosphorus?
2

3. • Plants response to P depletion?
• Is there a difference between expressed
genes and actively translated genes?
• Are genes “primed” for expression in
response to stress?

4. 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Abundance(%NSAF)
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

5. PHOSPHORUS CYCLING IN THE SOIL-MICROBE-PLANT
CONTINUUM

6. Table 1. Concentrations (mg/kg) of phosphorus forms and their percentages
(in parentheses) of NaOH-EDTA extractable total P as detected by 31P NMR.
Sample Ortho-P Monoesters Diesters Pyrophosphate Total P
A 287 (80) 71 (20) 0 0 358
B 262 (77) 77 (23) 0 0 339
C 249 (70) 70 (22) 0 0 317
Tandra Fraser (Mark Tibbett), Phosphorus Cycling, University of Reading
Phosphorus biochemistry in the rhizosphere
• NaOH-EDTA extracts
• 31P NMR analysis
• P- soil