4.2 Phosphorus in soil and the
process of loss to water
Phosphorus within the soil maybe in solution in
water or bound to the soil particles themselves:
the more strongly phosphorus is bounded to a
soil particle, the less available it is for uptake by
plant roots.
Scientists describe phosphorus in soils as existing in four
different “pools” on the basis of their accessibility to plants
(Syers et al, 2008):