Losses of phosphorus (P) from fertilized fields may result in degradation of water quality. Various initiatives are under evaluation to minimize water contamination, including the adoption of less soluble or coated P fertilizer formulations aiming to mitigate losses of P in runoff. Field-based rainfall simulators are traditionally used to evaluate P runoff, but using these is time consuming, labor intensive, and costly given the complex apparatus and analyses involved. We hypothesized that laboratory-based methods could be useful to evaluate the risk of P runoff from fertilizers. In order to identify a rapid, inexpensive, and efficient screening process, we compared two laboratory-scale measurements, one in water (based on electrical conductivity measurements) and one in soil (based on visualization of P diffusion in soil), with runoff results from field-, glasshouse-, and laboratory-based rainfall simulators, using coated soluble phosphate fertilizers. The laboratory-based methods assessing the P release rate in water and in soil correlated closely (r ≥ .96) with the losses of P obtained in the three rainfall simulators regardless of the type of coating or solubility of the fertilizer. The faster and inexpensive electrical conductivity and diffusion visualization methodologies were useful to rank the fertilizers by P release to runoff. Hence, these tools may be useful for screening fertilizer formulations with respect to their runoff risk.

中文翻译：

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使用实验室方法筛选肥料的磷径流风险

施肥田中磷 (P) 的流失可能会导致水质下降。正在评估各种举措以最大程度地减少水污染，包括采用溶解性较低或涂层的磷肥配方，旨在减轻径流中磷的损失。基于现场的降雨模拟器传统上用于评估 P 径流，但考虑到所涉及的复杂设备和分析，使用这些模拟器既费时又费力且成本高昂。我们假设基于实验室的方法可用于评估肥料中磷径流的风险。为了确定快速、廉价和有效的筛选过程，我们比较了两种实验室规模的测量，一种在水中（基于电导率测量）和一种在土壤中（基于土壤中 P 扩散的可视化），使用基于田间、温室和实验室的降雨模拟器的径流结果，使用涂层可溶性磷肥。评估水和土壤中磷释放率的实验室方法密切相关（r ≥ .96) 在三个降雨模拟器中获得的 P 损失与肥料的涂层类型或溶解度无关。更快、更便宜的电导率和扩散可视化方法有助于按磷释放到径流对肥料进行排序。因此，这些工具可用于筛选肥料配方的径流风险。