Investment

Depletion of phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) in soil sublayers is a significant issue for crop production. Decreased availability of P&K, and the variable effect of deep placement of P&K fertilisers, is likely due to transformation of P fertilisers to forms with low availability. The only current technique that can directly measure this transformation of fertilisers (such as P) within soils is synchrotron-based XAS.This investment will develop Synchrotron methods to measure nutrient availability in large intact soil cores taken from field experiments. The work will enable more efficient fertiliser placement within the rooting zone and improve plant growth in the presence of (sub)soil constraints by allowing root growth to be related to crop performance and soil properties.