1. Introduction
Phosphorus (P), a non-metallic multivalent chemical element in group 15 of the periodic table (pnictogen), is one of the most important macro-nutrient for living systems. It is an essential element for plant growth and for a couple of physiological functions that are concerned with energy transformations. Globally, the main user of phosphorus is agriculture, accounting for about 90% of the total world demand. Input of phosphorus is vital for food production as all plants need an ample supply of it. Being an essential constituent of cells, P is involved in a number of cellular processes, including photosynthesis, respiration, energy storage and transfer, cell division, and cell enlargement. Sufficient amount of phosphorus is required for the promotion of early root formation, development and growth, improvement of crop quality and seed formation. Plants used to uptake phosphate from soils, which then enters into the food chain, and returns to soils as decayed organic residues. Most of the phosphates become incorporated as organic compounds by living systems and when they are released into the environment again, become a part of soil organic matter, which is then mineralized by soil microorganisms. P may exist in diverse forms in soils. However, in general, three different P pools (solution, active and fixed) control the P-cycle in nature. Plants used to take up phosphate from solution. The solution P pool is comprised of P in the orthophosphate form and small amounts of organic P. This pool contains a very small fraction of the total P in soil, which needs to be replenished in due course of time as growing plants deplete the soluble source faster. However, P from the active P pool is the main source of available P for plants, which is released to the soil solution simply to the water adjoining soil constituents. Mostly attached or adsorbed to small particles in the soil along with elements like Ca, Al, the inorganic active P pool easily mineralizes by the biogenic activities in soil. However, source of the phosphate is an important issue as different heavy metals may be introduced into the agricultural land along with the fertilizer. Again, depending on several factors, soil particles may act either as a source or a sink of phosphate to the surrounding water. The fixed pool of phosphate contains mostly insoluble inorganic phosphate compounds that are resistant to mineralization by microorganisms in the soil. Phosphate in this pool may remain in soils for years; however, slow conversion between the fixed P pool and the active P pool does occur (Busman et al., 2002) (Fig. 1).