Phosphorus Availability in a Soil Amended with Bone Meal

Bone meal contains a large amount of phosphorus that could almost supply the phosphorus needs of crops. The main objective of this study was to determine the capability of bone meal for releasing phosphorus and its effect on growing corn. An experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications under laboratory and greenhouse conditions with 6 treatments including 400 and 800kg.ha-1 ordinary bone meal, 400 and 800kg.ha-1 acidulated bone meal, 200kg.ha-1 triple super phosphate, and control. The results demonstrated that in treatments with ordinary bone meal, phosphorus release had 30 days lag compared with triple super phosphate. Acidulation of bone meal caused faster and more release of phosphorus. The experiment also revealed that acidulated bone meal did not change the concentration of phosphorus in the shoot. However, shoot dry matter weight and phosphorus uptake by corn were significantly higher in acidulated vs ordinary bone meal. But, compared to the chemical fertilizer, their differences were not statistically significant.