Effects of dissolved organic carbon on phosphate retention on two calcareous soils

To evaluate the effects of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) on phosphate retention (including both sorption and/or precipitation reactions) on soils, experiments were performed by using two typical calcareous soils from southeastern Spain (Calcic Regosol and Luvic Xerosol) and two different types of DOC: (1) extracts from a commercial peat (DOC-PE) and (2) high-purity tannic acid (DOC-TA). The experiments were carried out from a 0.01 M CaCl2 aqueous medium at 25 degreesC. The results obtained show that the presence of both DOC-PE and DOC-TA, over a concentration range of 15 (DOC-15) to 100 (DOC-100) mg L-1, produces in all cases a decreasing amount of phosphate retained in the soils studied, the decrease observed being higher when DOC-PE is used as source of DOC. The values of the decrease observed when DOC-PE was added ranged between 19.9% (DOC-15) and 15.6% (DOC-100) for the Calcic Regosol and between 17.3% (DOC-70, DOC-100) and 14.6% (DOC-15) for the Luvic Xerosol. The variation observed when DOC-TA was added ranged between 8.5% (DOC-100) and 0.5% (DOC-35) for the Calcic Regosol and between 7.0% (DOC-100) and 1.0% (DOC-15) for the Luvic Xerosol.