Abstract

The volcanic ash-derived soils have strong capacity to retain phosphorus (P). The P in 10 virgin Ultisols and Andisols in Southern Chile and their clay size fractions were fractionated into inorganic, fulvic, and humic fractions using an acid and base sequential extraction procedure. These soils had similar mineralogy, and were formed under different climatic conditions, and were under different native vegetation. They are representative of the major agricultural areas. The total content ranges from 733 mg P kg-1 to 3470 mg P kg-1. As groups, Andisols had higher total P concentrations than the Ultisols. The organic P content was linearly correlated to organic carbon (C). In general, soils with higher organic C content had higher percentage of its P in the organic form. Clay size fraction accounted for 35 to 60% of the soil and had significantly higher concentrations of P in all fractions. In the clay fraction, the organic P content was also influence by their organic C. Soil depth did not affect the P distribution neither in the soils nor in the clay fractions.