Chemical forms of phosphorous and physicochemical properties of acid soils of Cheha and Dinsho districts, southern highlands of Ethiopia

Background Soil acidity and low availability of P are among the major problems limiting crop production in the highlands of Ethiopia. The current study was conducted to evaluate the distribution of chemical P forms and selected physical and chemical properties of soils in Cheha and Dinsho districts, southern highlands of Ethiopia. Twelve representative composite soil samples were collected from the surface layer (0–15 cm) and analyzed for selected soil properties. Analysis of available P and oxalate extractable P, Al and Fe, and P fractionation were done following standard procedures. Results The pH of soils in the study area ranged from 4.65 to 5.45. In the study area the Mehlich-3 extractable P ranged from 8.90 to 25.75 mg kg −1 , while the Bray-I extractable P varied from 8.54 to 22.81 mg kg −1 . The studied soils had a total P content that ranged from medium to very high. Mehlich-3 P was positively and significantly correlated with pH, CEC and OM, while it was negatively and significantly (P ≤ 0.01) correlated with exAc and exAl. Oxyhydroxides of iron and aluminum were dominating the exchange sites of the studied soils. In terms of the relative abundance of P forms, Res-P and HCl-P followed by NaOH-P o and NaOH-P i were the dominant P forms in Cheha and Dinsho districts respectively. The total sum of readily available P forms (NH 4 Cl-P i , NaHCO 3 -P i and NaHCO 3 -P o ) did not exceed 4% of the total P. Conclusion Soils of the study area were acidic in reaction and found to have low available P. Given the presence of considerable amount of total P, low P availability and high soil acidity in the study areas, further research has to be done on adsorption characteristics to determine the P requirements of the soils for better P management.