The phosphorus cycle in the soil is controlled by physicochemical processes, such as adsorption and desorption, and by biological processes, such as immobilization and mineralization. This study was carried out to evaluate the seasonal variation of phosphorus in the soil microbial biomass (Pm) as related to rates and timing of soluble phosphate application. The experiment was carried out in May 2002 on an Oxisol under no-till for seven years, in Ibirubá, in the southern Brazil. Five rates of soluble phosphate (0, 40, 80, 120, and 160 kg ha-1 of P2O5) were applied twice in a Lolium multiflorum/Glicine max cultivation cycle; the first one in the winter at Lolium multiflorum sowing and the second in the summer at Glicine max sowing. Microbial phosphorus and available phosphorus by anion exchange resin were evaluated in the 0-10 cm soil layer 91, 133, 147, 203, and 267 days after Lolium multiflorum sowing. Phosphate application increased microbial phosphorus, more intensely when applied at soybean sowing over the Lolium multiflorum residues. P immobilization in the microbial biomass was temporary and decreased over the course of the crop cycle; these variations were not correlated with variations in P extracted by anion-exchange resin.
phosphate fertilizers; soil management; organic residues; microbial biomass; organic phosphorus
