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Interaction between Plant Nutrients: III.

Antagonism between Potassium, Magnesium and
Calcium
a
Svend Tage Jakobsen
a
The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark
Version of record first published: 03 Jul 2009.

To cite this article: Svend Tage Jakobsen (1993): Interaction between Plant Nutrients: III. Antagonism between
Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B - Soil & Plant Science, 43:1, 1-5

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 Acto Agric. Scond.. Sec:. B. Soil ond Plan: Sci. 1993: 43, 1-5 Copjrighr 0 A n a Agriruhru Scand I993
Printed in Denmark . All righ/s reserred
ACTA AGRICULTURE
SCANDINAVICA
ISSN 0906-4710

Interaction between Plant Nutrients

111.Antagonism between Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium

Jakobsen, S. T. (The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Svend Tage Jakobsen
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Section of Soil and Water and Plant The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
Nutrition, Agrovej 10, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark). Interaction between University, Copenhagen, Denmark
plant nutrients. 111. Antagonisni between potassium, magnesium, and
calcium. Accepted August 12, 1992. Acta Agric. Scand., Sect. B, Soil and
Plant Sci. 43: 1-5, 1993. 0 Acta Agric. Scand. 1993.

In well buffered soils calcium ions occupy the majority of exchangeable

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sites in the soil colloids. Also, the fraction of exchangeable magnesium is

considerable, while the monovalent cations only occupy a few percent of
sites. Among the monovalent ions potassium is withheld more strongly
than sodium. Therefore, potassium ions only leak out by drainage in
small amounts until the soil is overfertilized by potassium.
The first year’s result of applying potassium chloride may lead to a higher
yield even when the soil is not deficient in potassium, because chloride may
increase the amount of dissolved cations in the soil solution. If a larger
amount of potassium is applied than removed by the crop, potassium
is accumulated in the soil and this leads to an antagonistic effect on the
uptake of magnesium and calcium.
The antagonistic effect of potassium was found to be considerable when
the activity ratio between potassium and calcium in a soil extract (1 part Key words: leaching, activity ratio,
soil to 2 parts water) during the period of growth and after harvest was residual effect, induced deficiency,
higher than 10 (pmol kg-’ soil)”*. malnutrition.

Nutrients applied to a soil by fertilizers, ma-

Introduction
Antagonism between plant nutrients is a situation
by which a surplus of one nutrient decreases plant
uptake of other essential nutrients. It has often
been pointed out that the application of excess
amounts of potassium counteracts the uptake of
magnesium. However, experiments with increasing
application of potassium are often difficult to inter-
pret, (Steenbjerg & Jakobsen, 1963).
In the second paper of this series (Jakobsen,
1992b) it was shown that the application of muriate
of potash increased the yield and uptake of mag-
nesium and calcium. The reason discussed was a
synergetic effect of the chloride ion, which counter-
acted the antagonism of the potassium ion in the
fertilizer.
A second effect of fertilization by muriate of
potash was that the amount of exchangeable potas-
sium increased and that of calcium decreased. This
caused a pronounced increase in the activity ratio
between potassium and calcium (Jakobsen, 1992a).
nures, compost, waste products and precipitation
can be removed by crops and by leaching. Some
nitrate nitrogen is reduced to dinitrogen or nitrous
oxide by denitrification, and hydrogen carbonate
splits into carbon dioxide and carbonate (Jakob-
sen, 1992b). Cations accumulate in one of the three
fractions: nonexchangeable, exchangeable at sur-
faces of colloids, or as free ions in the soil solution
(Jakobsen, 1992a).
Losses of nutrients by leaching have been investi-
gated by Hansen & Pedersen (1975). Drainage
water from 15 different loamy soils in Denmark
was systematically sampled and analyzed. The
mean of three years was 117 mm per year over a
period of 195 days in autumn and winter. The
investigations were continued for another seven
years, whereby a statistical grouping of results rela-
tive to the soil texture was accomplished (Pedersen,
1983). Nutrients are leached by the soil solution,
the composition of which is governed by the con-
tent of exchangeable nutrients (Jakobsen, 1992a).

1
 S. T. Jakobsen

Materials and methods Table 2. Distribution of exchangeable cations in a sandy loamy soil
with a pH (in water) of 6.7. Mean of 90 determinations
Leaching of cations
mequiv. (kg soil)-'*SD Percentage of total
Exchangeable cations were determined from 90
plots of a field experiment with a sandy-loamy Potassium 4.7*0.2 3.6
soil. In order to express the role of the activity Sodium 0.9 *0.06 0.7
ratio on the upward/downward movement of pot- Magnesium 8.9*0.6 6.8
assium in soils, soil samples from three depths Calcium 115*7 89
of three soils differing in activity ratio between Total 130 100
potassium and calcium were taken after harvest of
barley, and were extracted by water and analyzed
as described in the first paper (Jakobsen, 1992a).
the anions, and the remaining 40% were hydrogen
carbonate. Calcium ions dominated the cation
Residual effect of potash fertilizers
fraction. Equal amounts of sodium and magnesium
After harvest of Zea Maize in the experiment de- and a minor amount of potassium were found.
scribed in the second paper (Jakobsen, 1992b) the A classification of 10 years' results of chemical
soil was cultivated but not ploughed. Results of analyses of drainage water from three soil groups
soil samples taken in April the following year to a only gave small variations in the relative contri-
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depth of 20 cm showed an increase in exchangeable bution of the single cations (Pedersen, 1983). The
potassium corresponding to the applied amount, total amount of cations was highest from the soil
and a rectilinear relation between the proportion with the highest clay content, and that was mostly
of exchangeable nutrients and the activity ratio neutralized by a higher amount of hydrogen car-
(Jakobsen, 1992a). bonate.
In spring 1982 a new crop of Zea Maize was The composition of cations in drainage water
therefore sown. The soil was fertilized by 130 kg reflects to some extent the saturation by exchange-
N ha-' as ammonium nitrate and three treatments able cations at the surface of the soil colloids. An
of phosphate fertilizers: (a) without P-fertilizer, (b) example of saturation was given in the first paper
45 kg P ha-' as ammonium phosphate and (c) 45 (Jakobsen, 1992a). Calcium ions were 90% of the
kg P ha-' as ordinary superphosphate. N o potash exchangeable cations. In Table 2 an example from
fertilizer was applied. another sandy-loamy soil is given. The ratio be-
The crop was harvested in October. Dry matter tween magnesium and calcium in drainage water
yield as hkg per ha and uptake of potassium, mag- (Table 1) was of the same magnitude as the ratio
nesium and calcium were determined and calcu- between the exchangeable amounts of the two cat-
lated as equivalents per ha. ions shown in Table 2.
On the one hand the sodium cations are easily
Results washed out, so that in spring only a very small
Leaching of cations
amount was found as exchangeable sodium, while
the amount of sodium in the drainage water was
The composition of anions and cations in the of the same magnitude as magnesium. On the other
drainage water as found by Hansen & Pedersen hand potassium cations are withheld as exchange-
(1975) are expressed as percentages in Table 1. able, and very little is leached until the soil is
Nitrate, chloride and sulphate were each 20% of excessively fertilized by potassium, e.g. when the
activity ratio between potassium and calcium be-
comes too high in the soil solution.
Table 1. Composition of anions and cations in drainage water from
15 moraine clay soils expressed in percentages (Hansen & Pedersen, Activity ratio and leaching
1975)
TWOfactors are responsible for the upward/down-
Percentage Percentage ward movement of potassium in soils: (1) potas-
Anion of total Cation of total sium is taken up by plant roots from different
Nitrate 19 Sodium 9
soil layers and is translocated to plant tops. After
Sulphate 22 Potassium 0.3 leaching from the tops it is left in the upper soil
Chloride 18 Magnesium 8 layers or in plant material on the soil surface. (2)
Hydrogen carbonate 41 Calcium 82 When rainfall exceeds field capacity nutrients in
Total mequiv. per litre 6.8 6.64
the soil solution will be displaced to deeper soil
layers and perhaps to drainage or ground water.

2
 Potassium, magnesium, calcium
Table 3. pH, activities of potassium and calcium, and activity ratios calcium deficiencies, which might have reduced the
of three soil layers. Soil samples are taken after harvest of barley yield and the concentration of magnesium and cal-
pmol (kg soil)-’
cium in the crops.
Soil Depth
no. (in cm) pH a(K) a(Ca)
4K)a
-
I/a(Ca) Residual effect of potash fertilizers
The total uptakes of cations, in equivalents per ha,
1 0-25 7.8 92 687 3.5 in the second-year experiment and the proportion
2540 8.2 20 499 0.9 of single cations are given in Table 4. Owing to
40-60 8.3 22 483 1.o leaching of chloride during winter, the amount of
2 10-15 7.0 76 444 3-6 cations absorbed was of the same magnitude in the
30-35 7.2 23 362 1.2 three treatments, which was the opposite result to
4555 7.3 19 159 1.5 that found in the first year, when the concentration
3 0-25 6.8 508 510 22 of chloride differed (Jakobsen, 1992b).
25-50 6.3 568 157 45 The relation between the absorbed cations
90-1 00 5.8 547 53 75 changed remarkably owing to increased potassium
a In (pmol/kg)”*.
fertilization the previous year. The increase of K
and decreases of Mg and Ca were due to increased
activity ratios between potassium and calcium
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measured after the application of 0, 75 and 150 kg

Table 4. Residual effect of potassium chloride on uptakes of cations
in plants, and relation between absorbed cations. Mean of 18 plots

Application of cations, equiv. ha-’ in 1981

0 75 150

Uptake of cations, equiv. ha-’ in 1982

Total 6700 6800 6750

Percentage of total 130 3

Potassium 34 38 46
L\ I
2200
I
2400
I
2600 2800 3000
6
3200
Magnesium 29 28 24 a’ K in crops,equivalenls/ha
Calcium 37 34 30

Table 5. Residual effect of K ferilizer and first year effect of P

“
2
L
150

fertilizer on DM yield of Zea Maize. Mean of six plots Without P

P i n NH4 HZ P o 4
Application, kg K ha-’ in 1981
A---A Pin Superphos
0 75 150 1 3 0 t \
s I
1500
I
1700
I
1900
1
2100
P application in 1982 Dry matter yield, hkg ha-’ in 1982 b: Mg in crops,equivalenls/ha

No application
Ammonium phosphate
135
144
150
153
137
144
160 1
Superphosphae 150 152 152 150 -

140 -
If the soil is not excessively fertilized by potas-
sium the activity ratio between potassium and cal- 130 $
cium in a soil extract is less than 10 (pmol/kg)”2.
This was the case for soils (1) and (2) in Table 3. -k\1800I I
2000
I I
2200 2400 2600
1 1
2800
The activity ratio in soil (3) increased from the c: Ca in crops,equivalents/ha
upper to the deeper soil layers. Leaching of potas-
Fig. I . Yield utilization curves for potassium, magnesium and
sium was probably caused by an excessive fertiliza- calcium describing the relation between DM yield and nutrient
tion by potassium, probably over several years. It uptake as influenced by different P fertilization. (Arrows indi-
is likely that crops suffered from magnesium and cate increasing amounts of K in 1981).

3
 S . T. Jakobsen
K ha-’. They were 2.4, 4.5 and 6.6 (pmol/kg
soil)”*, respectively. The results in Table 4 demon-
strate the relation between the activity ratio and
the cation uptake.
The different results in the two years are caused
by various strengths of synergism and antagonism.
In the first year the synergetic effect of chloride
overwhelmed the antagonistic effect between the
cations (Jakobsen, 1992b). In the second year the
antagonism between cations dominated.
Antagonism
An antagonism between cations can be illustrated
with yield as a function of nutrient uptake, which is
shown for potassium in Fig. la, magnesium in Fig.
1byand calcium in Fig. lc. In each of Figs. la-c, the
three curves denote different P-treatments.
As long as both yield and nutrient uptake in-
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crease, the increased yield might be caused by the
increased nutrient absorption. If the yield curve
tails off, as it does for the highest amounts of
potassium in Fig. la, another parameter is limiting.
From Figs. l b and c it is found that limits of
yield might be the cause of a regressive uptake of
magnesium and calcium.
On all curves an arrow shows the direction of
the course indicating an increased activity ratio
between potassium and calcium. The curves for
magnesium and calcium have the opposite course
to that for potassium. A decreasing activity ratio
between potassium and the divalent cations acts in
the same manner as the fertilization by magnesium
and calcium, i.e. antagonism.
Discussion
Much attention has been paid to potassium de-
ficiency in plants and the primary effect of potash
fertilizers. The secondary long-term effect of an
excessive optimal potassium fertilization has been
overlooked.
From the theory given in the first paper (Jakob-
sen, 1992a), and from experiments shown in the
second paper (Jakobsen 1992b) it was concluded
that the effect of potassium is indirect and based
on two factors: (1) total concentration of cations
in the soil solution and (2) balances between the
exchangeable cations.
In this third paper evidence is given that residual
effect of excessive potassium fertilization often in-
duces deficiencies of the divalent cations, mag-
nesium and calcium in crops.
As pointed out by Hansen (1972) plants absorb
nutrients relative to activity ratios in the growth
medium. Results shown in the second paper
(Jakobsen, 1992b) and in this paper reveal that
4
cation concentrations in the crop reflect the nutri-
ent conditions in soil extracts.
From analyses of drainage water (Hansen & Pe-
dersen, 1975), magnesium and calcium leached in
proportion relative to the exchangeable amounts
(Tables 1 and 2), whereas potassium only leached
out in very small amounts. In sandy soils Pedersen
(1982) found small amounts of potassium in
ground water at 5 m depth. In deeper layers the
concentration of potassium decreased to very small
and stable concentrations. Sodium leached out
very easily.
In soils (1) and (2) not excessively fertilized with
potassium, the activity ratio decreased with in-
creasing depth (Table 4). If the activity ratio was
high in the upper soil layer it increased with depth,
indicating leaching of potassium in soil (3). Results
from the second-year experiment demonstrated
that balances between potassium, magnesium and
calcium became unfavourable before excess
amounts of potassium leached out. The plants suf-
fered from magnesium and calcium deficiencies,
which not only restricted the yield but also the
quality of the crops by low concentrations of the
divalent cations.
Induced deficiencies by application of excessive
amounts of fertilizer are much more difficult to
repair than deficiencies caused by inadequate
amounts of available nutrients. As regards potas-
sium, one method might be to fertilize with sodium
chloride instead of potassium chloride. Thereby,
chlorides would increase the concentrations of cat-
ions in the soil solution, and sodium ions will be
leached during the following winter. Such a pro-
cedure could be supplemented by application of
dolomite limestone to the soil in spring, but after
ploughing.
Conclusions
Potassium is withheld to the surface of soil colloids
more strongly than sodium and divalent cations.
Therefore, potassium is leached to a lesser degree
than sodium, magnesium and calcium. The differ-
ence between applied and removed potassium is
accumulated in the soil, until the activity ratio
between potassium and calcium is increased to un-
desirably high values. Activity ratios determined
in soil extracts describe these situations.
Results of a first year’s experiment with K fertili-
zation are often difficult to interpret, as a syner-
getic anion effect can balance an antagonistic effect
of potassium on the uptake of magnesium and
calcium. The antagonism is found at lower activity
ratios than those describing the downward move-
ment of potassium relative to calcium in a sandy
clay soil.

It is recommended to keep potash fertilization
at a level where the activity ratio o(K)ll/cl(Ca)
in a soil extract is well beneath 10 (pmollkg
soil)"*.
References
Hansen, E. M. 1972. Studies on the chemical composition of
isolated soil solution and the cation absorption by plants.
Plant & Soil 37, 589-607.
Hansen, L. & Pedersen, E. F. 1975. Losses of nutrients by
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Potassium, magnesium, calcium
leaching in agricultural plant production. Tidsskr. Planteavl
79, 670488.
Jakobsen, S. T. 1992a. Interaction between plant nutrients. I.
Theory and analytical procedures. Acta Agric. Scand, Sect.
B 42, 208-212.
Jakobsen, S. T. 1992b. Interaction between plant nutrients. 11.
Effect on chloride on activities of cations in soil solution and
on nutrient uptake by plants. Acta Agnc. Scand, Sect. B 42,
213-21 7.
Pedersen, E. F. 1982. Investigations of ground water on sandy
soils 1975-1979. Tidsskr. Planteavl 86, 543-565.
Pedersen, E. F. 1983. Losses of nutrients by leaching in agricul-
tural plant production. Tidsskr. Planteavl, Specialser. S 1667,
1-53.