摘要
Soil phosphorus (P) quantity–intensity (q–i) relationships, based on common extraction methods, may potentially be used to estimate the risk of P loss in overland flow and subsurface drainage water. Some workers have used nonlinear q–i relationships to derive thresholds in soil test P (STP; a quantity factor) above which the risk of P loss increases, while others find linear relationships and no threshold. We present here a simple modelling exercise (based on Langmuir adsorption theory) along with data from literature to explain the behaviour of q–i relationships, and to give an explanation for this apparent discrepancy.