Comparing the phosphorus requirements of wheat, lupin, and canola

Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.), and canola (Brassica napus L.) are the major crop species grown in rotation on the predominantly sandy soils of south-western Australia. Comparisons among the species for yield responses to applied phosphorus (P), effects of applied P on growth rates of shoots, P response efficiency for shoot and grain production, and the pattern for accumulation of P into shoots during growth and into grain at maturity are rare, or are not known, and were quantified in the glasshouse study reported here. Size and P content (P concentration multiplied by yield) of sown seed were in the order canola < wheat < lupin. Therefore, yield responses to applied P were first observed at ~10 days after sowing (DAS) for canola, ~17 DAS for wheat, and ~60 DAS for lupin. Lupin shoots showed no yield response to applied P at the first harvest at 51 DAS. Otherwise all species showed large yield, P concentration, and P content responses to applied P for all harvests at 51, 78, 87, 101, 121, and 172 DAS. To produce 90% of the maximum grain yield, the relevant data for cropping, lupin required ~67% less P than wheat, canola required ~40% less P than wheat, and canola required ~75% more P than lupin. Growth rates, and P response efficiency, were generally largest for canola, followed by wheat, then lupin. For shoots, P accumulation was in the order lupin > wheat > canola at 51 DAS, canola > wheat > lupin at 78 and 87 DAS, canola > wheat = lupin at 101 DAS, and all 3 species were about similar at 121 DAS. For accumulation of P into shoots plus grain at maturity (172 DAS) the order was canola > lupin > wheat, and for grain only was canola > wheat = lupin.