Objectives Phosphorus (P) is often deficient in yellow soil, improving P efficiency in crop production is greatly concerned in researches. The effects of fertilization patterns on the dry matter and P accumulation and translocation in rice were compared in this paper, aiming to setup rational P fertilization in yellow paddy soil.

Methods The study was based on a successive 22-years’ field experiment in the yellow paddy soil. Six treatments were chosen from the experiment, they were blank CK, NK, NPK, manure alone (M), 0.5 MNP and MNPK. Except CK and MNPK, NK, NPK, M and 1/2 MNP had the same N input of 165 kg/hm², and P₂O₅ input of 82.5, 79.4 and 81.0 kg/hm² in turn. MNPK treatment had N and P₂O₅ input of 331 and 161.9 kg/hm². Rice aboveground parts were sampled at tillering, flowering and maturity stages, the grain yield, dry matter and P contents were measured. P accumulation and transfer characteristics, P uptake and utilization efficiency were calculated.

Results Rice yield, dry matter and P accumulation ranked as follows: MNPK > M > 0.5 MNP > NPK > CK > NK. Compared with dry matter accumulation, the start time (t₁) and the end time (t₂) of P accumulation during fast-accumulation period advanced 2–8 d and 5–20 d, and the duration (Δt) of P accumulation in fast-accumulation period was shortened by 4–12 d, which indicated that the P accumulation was faster than dry matter and lasted for a shorter time. In contrast to the CK and M treatments, the t₀ days of the maximum dry matter accumulation rate (V_m) occurred, t₁, t₂ of dry matter accumulation in the treatments with chemical fertilizer application (NK, NPK, 0.5 MNP, MNPK) lagged 5–10 d, 1–4 d, 6–16 d, respectively. The Δt of dry matter and P accumulation also prolonged 1–14 d and 1–15 d, respectively. The V_m of dry matter and P accumulation ranked as M, MNPK > 0.5 MNP, CK > NPK > NK. Dry matter and P accumulation amount of rice grain were mainly derived by post-anthesis period dry matter accumulation and pre-anthesis period P translocation, respectively. The post-anthesis period dry matter accumulation rate of each treatment was 29.5%–43.4%, and the treatments with chemical fertilizer had significantly better effect than that of CK and M treatment. The pre-anthesis period P accumulation rate of treatments was 60.5%–85.6%, and the order was CK > NPK, M > NK, 0.5 MNP, MNPK. Compared with the NPK treatment, 0.5 MNP and M treatments significantly increased the P absorption efficiency, P partial factor productivity and P utilization efficiency by 0.43 kg/kg, 48.9 kg/kg, 40.8 percentage points and 0.26 kg/kg, 32.2 kg/kg, 25.3 percentage points, respectively.

Conclusions Long-term P deficiency was not conducive to dry matter accumulation in post-anthesis period and P accumulation in pre-anthesis period, which seriously restricts the improvement of rice yield and phosphorus uptake. Long-term solely application of organic manure could promote the dry matter and P accumulation and transport in pre-anthesis period, but restricted those in post-anthesis period. Long-term solely application of chemical fertilizer could prolong the Δt of dry matter and P accumulation, but the V_m was small. Long-term integrated fertilization with organic manure and chemical fertilizers could promote the dry matter and P accumulation both in pre-anthesis period and after-anthesis period, leading to high grain yield and P use efficiency, which is the best fertilization pattern in yellow paddy soil.