ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Interaction of phosphorus and water supply regulates the maize root system and phosphorus-use efficiency
Provisionally accepted
Jianbo Shen1*
Maoying Wang1Jie Xu1
Yang Lyu1Mengjie Luo1Yucui Sun2Shengjia Ye1
Lingyun Cheng1
Zed Rengel3- 1Department of Plant Nutrition, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
- 2Yunnan Yuntianhua Co Ltd, Kunming, China
- 3The University of Western Australia School of Agricultural and Environment, Perth, Australia
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Improving phosphorus (P)-use efficiency (PUE) while increasing crop yield is one of the greatest challenges in sustainable P management for sustainable agriculture. Types of P fertilizers and soil water supply impact P availability and crop growth, but how to optimize P fertilizer and water supply to enhance the foraging capacity of roots for P remains unclear. This study was aimed at characterizing the effects of different combinations of P fertilizers and water supply on maize growth, root properties and PUE in calcareous soil. A pot experiment with four P fertilizers [monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and urea phosphate (UP)] was conducted under well-watered (watered) and water-deficit (dry) conditions using maize (Zea mays L.) in a greenhouse during the seedling stage. The interaction between P fertilizers and water supply significantly promoted the growth and P uptake of maize by modifying the root morphological and physiological traits. MAP and APP exhibited greater (by up to 62%) total root length in the watered than the dry treatments, resulting in a significant increase in the efficiency of root P acquisition. The APase activity in the rhizosphere soil of MAP and DAP declined (by 37%-62%) significantly, and the rhizosphere soil pH in the DAP treatment was 0.4 units lower in the watered than the dry treatments. APP improved the soil P availability more than the other P fertilizers (17%-41% higher in soil Olsen-P concentration) regardless of water supply. Optimal combination of P fertilizers and water supply promotes maize growth and PUE due to stimulating the root capacity to forage for nutrient and water resources by regulating the root morphological and physiological traits. Engineering root/rhizosphere by manipulating the interactions of P fertilizer types and water supply can improve nutrient use-efficiency and sustainable crop production.
Keywords: interactions, Maize, Phosphorus fertilizers, P-use efficiency, Rhizosphere processes, Water Supply
Received: 14 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Wang, Xu, Lyu, Luo, Sun, Ye, Cheng and Rengel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianbo Shen
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