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This article continues a series that provides producers with information to aid in phosphorus (P) management and in understanding environmental issues related to P management. This article focuses on the presence and behavior of P in the soil.

The nature, amount, distribution, and chemical composition of P compounds in soil are closely related to the classic factors of soil formation--climate, organisms, parent material, topography, and time. Because we have tilled, fertilized, drained, and allowed soils to erode, the form and amount of P in the surface horizon has changed.