Abstract

                                Phosphorus has long been recognised as an essential constituent of all living organisms. It performs functions in plant metabolism, structure and reproduction that cannot be performed by any other element. The amount of phosphorus present in the soil is sufficient to meet the requirement of the crop, if available in full amounts, but a larger proportion remains in fixed form and not available to the plant. Past experiments have shown that the recovery of applied phosphate is only 15-20 per cent (Grunes and Krantz, 1958).

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