Enhanced rock weathering increased soil phosphorus availability in a rubber plantation

Enhanced rock weathering has been proposed as a measure to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Recent focus lies on application in agriculture. However model-based assessments have shown potential for its application in forests and forestry due its positive effect on soil fertility stimulating additional carbon dioxide removal by trees. Now, results from a field trial in a rubber plantation in Southern China supports this view by showing that soil fertility and tree phosphorus acquisition is indeed substantially improved.

Enhanced rock weathering relies on the spreading of finely-ground rock material which when weathers fixes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  The effects of this practice on the soil phosphorus and the general mechanisms affecting microbial phosphorus cycling, as well as plant phosphorus uptake are not well understood, but could potentially deliver additional revenues.

In order to shed light on the impact of enhanced rock weathering on phosphorus, wollastonite a fast weathering mineral was applied to rubber plantation growing on phosphorus impoverished soils in Southern China. Measurement taken 2 years after application show that plots which received wollastonite had increased soil phosphorus availability due to stimulation of biological processes in roots and soil organisms. 

This works provides a new insight from real world experiments that enhanced rock weathering increases carbon-sequestration potential and phosphorus availability in tropical forests and profoundly affects below-ground plant resource-use strategies.

Bi, B., Li, G., Goll, D. S., Lin, L., Chen, H., Xu, T., Chen, Q., Li, C., Wang, X., Hao, Z., Fang, Y., Yuan, Z., & Lambers, H. (2024). Enhanced rock weathering increased soil phosphorus availability and altered root phosphorus-acquisition strategies. Global Change Biology, 30, e17310. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17310