Potassium and magnesium uptake by wheat and soybean roots as influenced by fertilizer rate

Abstract

Greenhouse‐pot experiments were conducted to compare wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] in terms of their potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) uptake. Previously, a field study indicated that various rates of K and Mg fertilization did not produce a significant wheat‐yield response. However, a yield increase with residual K and Mg was measured for the subsequent soybean crop. The 0 to 15 cm layer of Norfolk loamy fine sand (fine loamy, siliceous, thermic Typic Kandiudult) from two different sites was used for the pot experiments. Soil from both sites had a pH of 5.1. Potassium as potassium sulfate (K₂SO₄) was mixed into the soil from the K‐deficient site and Mg as magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄) was mixed into the soil from the Mg‐deficient site. ‘Florida 301’ wheat and ‘Cobb’ soybean were grown in winter and summer, respectively.

Soybean and wheat were similar in K uptake/g of roots on the first and second sampling dates. However, by the third sampling date, K uptake/g of wheat roots was about twice as high as for soybean. Potassium uptake/cm of soybean roots was two to five times that of wheat at each sampling date. Magnesium uptake/g of soybean roots was about four to five times as high as wheat on each sampling date. Similarly, Mg uptake/cm of soybean roots was 10 to 30 times higher than for wheat. Soybean showed higher total K and Mg content than wheat, suggesting that soybean has a higher demand for both K and Mg. The higher demand for K and Mg by soybeans than by wheat suggests that wheat could meet its demand for K and Mg at much lower soil levels than that for soybean. This would also explain a grain‐yield response to K and Mg by soybeans in the previously reported field study, despite a lack of yield response by wheat grown on the same site.