Imagine pouring a huge pitcher of juice 🍹 into a tiny glass and watching most of it spill over. That's kinda what's happening with inorganic phosphorus fertilizers worldwide! According to a recent study by botanists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), only 12.6% of the tens of millions of tonnes of phosphorus fertilizers used each year is actually absorbed by plants. The rest? It's chilling in the soil.
The research team from the South China Botanical Garden under the CAS dug deep into this issue. They set up a global database featuring 987 sets of observation data from 274 papers published between 1972 and 2021. Their mission? To figure out where all that phosphorus fertilizer is really going.
Their findings show that while we're loading up soil with phosphorus to boost plant growth, most of it isn't making it into the plants themselves. Instead, the majority hangs out in the soil or gets washed away. This not only wastes resources but could also lead to environmental issues like soil degradation and water pollution.
So, what's the big takeaway? 🌍 It might be time to rethink how we use phosphorus fertilizers to make farming more sustainable and efficient. After all, every drop counts!
Reference(s):
Study: Very little inorganic phosphorus fertilizer absorbed by plants
cgtn.com
