Phosphorus Nutrition

The distribution of phosphorus in foods is widespread (Tables 11.11 and 11.12) and human dietary needs of about 1.3 g/day are easily met. In western diets about one-third of this is supplied by milk and dairy products and most of the remainder by meat and grain products. 

Phosphorus deficiency in adult humans is extremely rare, but an induced deficiency will lead to the condition known as hypophosphatemia. On the other hand, excess of P in the diet can lead to hyperphosphatemia which in turn can lead to a shortage of Ca needed for bone formation. It can also lead to a shortage of essential elements such as Fe, Zn and Mg, by forming their insoluble phosphates. 

Lack of available dietary Ca is a major factor in the development of Osteoporosis, a condition prevalent in the elderly, which is associated with a loss of strength and total bone mass. Nutritional studies indicate dietary Ca deficiencies are much more likely than P deficiencies and, coupled with ageing populations, this makes osteoporosis a far more serious problem than hypophosphatemia. 

Concentrations of the heavier (toxic) pnictide elements. As, Sb and Bi in human food should not (and seldom do) exceed about 1 ppm. Naturally occurring phosphorus compounds and those added in food manufacture are almost always inorganic phosphates or phosphate esters. They are completely harmless and no deaths or illnesses have resulted from them.  

Provided they are not used in excessive amounts. Almost any substance becomes toxic if ingested in sufficient quantities. Animal feeding studies indicate that up to about 0.5% phosphate in the total human diet can be tolerated without any adverse physiological effects being produced. Ingestion of larger amounts of phosphate may depress the body calcium level producing hypocalcemia symptoms. 

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S. E. Smith, B. L. St John, F. A. Smith, and D. j. D. Nicholas, Activity of glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase in Trifolium subterraneum and Allium cepa L., effects of mycorrhizal infection and phosphorus nutrition. New Phytologist 99 211 (1985). 

Leone, I. A., and E. Brennan. Ozone toxicity in tomato as modified by phosphorus nutrition. Phytopathology 60 1521-1524, 1970. 

Ormrod, D. P., N. O. Adedipe, and G. Hofstra. Ozone effects on growth of radish plants as influenced by nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition and by temperature. Plant Soil 39 437-439, 1973. 

Bachmann, S., The effect of phosphorus nutrition on changes in content and composition of the fructose polymers in tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.), 8th Int. Congr. Soil Sci., 4, 219-223, 1964. 

M. N. Valikhanov, B. O. Beknazarov and R. P. Igamnazarov (1980). Study of possible role of polyphosphates as a source of phosphorus nutrition for cotton plants (in Russian). Physiol. Rastenii (Moscow), 27, 296-300. 

While phosphorus nutrition can be met relatively easily with fertilization, another challenge for developing sustainable management practices in pastures of the... 

Birch, P. B., Gordon, D. M., and McComb, A. J. (1981). Nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition of Cladophora in the Peel-Harvey estuarine system, western Australia. Bot. Mar. 24, 381-387. 

The work by Chadwick et al. (1999) has demonstrated that the calcium and phosphorus nutrition of the older Hawaiian Island ecosystems depends almost entirely on atmospheric sources. With respect to calcium, strontium-isotope analyses of soils and plants indicates that atmospherically derived calcium (from marine sources) increases from less than 20% to more... 

Heaney RP. Phosphorus nutrition and the treatment of osteoporosis. Mayo Clin Proc 2004 79 91-97. 

Reuter, Jr., J. G. (1983), Alkaline Phosphatase Inhibition by Copper Implications to Phosphorus Nutrition and Use as a Biochemical Marker of Toxicity, Limnol. Oceanogr. 28, 743-748. 

Kirschbaum, M. U. F, and Tompkins, D. (1990). Photosynthetic respon.ses to phosphorus nutrition in Eucalyptus grandis seedlings. Aust. /. Plant Physiol. 17,527-535. 

Gaume, A., Machler, F., and Frossard, E., Aluminum resistance in two cultivars of Zea mays L. root exudation of organic acids and influence of phosphorus nutrition. Plant Soil, 234, 73-81, 2001. 

Meharg, A.A., Naylor, J., Macnair, M.R., 1994. Phosphorus nutrition of arsenate-tolerant and non-tolerant phenotypes of velvetgrass. J. Environ. Qual. 23, 234—238. 

The phosphorus nutrition of plants is favoured by phosphorus mobilization mechanisms taking place in the rhizosphere. Among these mechanisms, the role of mycorrhizas is of prime importance (Mousain et al., 1997). There are nevertheless some controversial interpretations of the nature of these positive effects regarding the role of phosphohydrolases (also see Richardson et al., Chapter 8, this volume). 

These results show that the phosphorus nutrition of a host plant can be heavily dependent on the molecular and physicochemical properties of the extracellular phosphohydrolases of its associated mycorrhizal fungi. This relationship could perhaps be generalized to other rhizospheric microorganisms, but experimental studies are still lacking. 

Enzymatic hydrolysis of organic phosphorus is an essential step in the biogeo-chemical phosphorus cycle, including the phosphorus nutrition of plants and microorganisms (see Oberson and Joner, Chapter 7 Richardson et al., Chapter 8 Heath, Chapter 9, this volume) and the transfer of organic phosphorus from soils to water bodies (see Turner, Chapter 12, this volume). It also plays a role in gene fluxes in the environment by its effect on the residual extracellular DNA in soil, and in the degradation of... 

Tibbett, M. (2002) Considerations on the use of the p-nitrophenyl phosphomonoesterase assay in the study of the phosphorus nutrition of soil-borne fungi. Microbiological Research 1 57, 221-231. 

Recent developments in plant phosphorus nutrition have shown that roots spe-... 

The ability of plants to obtain phosphorus from organic sources has been investigated either by direct measurement of growth and phosphorus nutrition when provided with organic phosphorus substrates supplied in controlled media or soil, or by measuring the depletion of various fractions of organic phosphorus in rhizosphere soil. 

Role of extracellular phosphatase in the phosphorus-nutrition of clover. Journal of Experimental Botany 44, 1 595-1 500. 

Some information is available about the phosphorus nutrition of the three most important cyanobacteria in the oceans. Uptake of P-labelled phosphate by Tri-chodesmium showed a surprisingly high half-saturation constant (McCarthy and Car-... 

Donald, K.M., Scanlan, D.J., Carr, N.C., Mann, N.H. and Joint, I. (1997) Comparative phosphorus nutrition of the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus WH7803 and the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. Journal of Plankton Research 19, 1 793-1 81 3. 

Huber, A.L. and Hamel, K.S. (1985) Phosphatase activities in relation to phosphorus nutrition in Nodularia spumigena (Cyanobacteriaceae). 2. Laboratory studies. Hydrobiologia 123, 81-88. 

Extensive pot experiments with chamomile M. recutita) have also shown that high nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition levels resulted in a slightly increased essential oil content of the anthodia. 

Menary RC, van Staden J (1976) Effect of phosphorus nutrition and cytokinin on flowering in the tomato Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. Aust J Plant Physiol 3 201-205 Menhenett R, Wareing PF (1975) Possible involvement of growth substances in response of tomato plants Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) to different soil temperatures. J Hortic Sci 50 381-397... 

Toussaint, J.P., Smith, F.A., and Smith, S.E. 2007. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can induce the production of phytochemicals in sweet basil irrespective of phosphorus nutrition. Mycorrhiza, 77(4), 291-7. 

Parra, A., M. Ramon, J. Alonso, S. G. Lemos, E. C. Vieira, and A. R. A. Nogueira. 2005. Flow injection potentiometric system for the simultaneous determination of inositol phosphates and phosphate Phosphorus nutritional evaluation on seeds and grains. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53 7644-7648. 

LISIAK M.J. 1978. The effect of sodium humate upon phosphorus nutrition of plants with variable doses of iron and calcium in tomato water cultures. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, 47, 429-440. 

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