Year | Soil Texture | Rainfall | Management Group | Land Use | Sample Size |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | Sand | All | All | All | 59 |
Phosphorus Buffering Index (PBI) is used in conjunction with the Colwell Phosphorus measurement and gives an interpretation of a soils ability to “lock-up” P. Soils with a high PBI will quickly bind P to “exchange sites” and make it unavailable for plant uptake. Conversely, soils with a low PBI will lock up only small amounts of P, leaving the majority of fertiliser applied P available for plant uptake.
Managing high PBI soils generally involves applying higher rates of P fertiliser. Doing this over many years will gradually fill more and more exchange sites, therefore leaving more fertiliser P available for the growing crop.
In some Australian soils, where PBI is particularly low, phosphorus leaching can occur.
Choose a Soil Quality indicator from one of the three tabs below to examine grouped data.