摘要
an experiment was carried out to study phosphorus (p) adsorption in ten soil samples from pernambuco state, northeastern brazil. the relationship between physical and chemical soil attributes and p adsorption isotherms were also evaluated. the results showed that maximum phosphorus adsorption capacity (mpac), remaining p (rem-p) and the k constant of the freundlich equation are reliable variables to characterize p adsorption by the soils. due to its easy determination, rem-p is the best indicated variable. the parameters of p adsorption mpac, rem-p and the k constant of the freundlich equation showed correlation (p %26lt; 0.01) with the chemical attributes potential acidity (h+al), exchangeable aluminum (al), exchangeable cation capacity (ecc) and with the physical attributes clay and field capacity (fc). the variables fc, rem-p, h+al, al, ecc and clay, among the chemical and physical attributes evaluated, allowed estimating the mpac value on the studied soils. the p adsorption energy and the n constant of the freundlich isotherm were not reliable indicators of the p soil adsorption power.