Transformations of carbon and nitrogen in a Calciorthid soil amended with a range of organic residues

A calcareous soil was treated with an organic fertilizer mixture of grape debris and peat, or with pig manure, chicken manure, city refuse or with aerobic or anaerobic sewage sludges. Changes in different fractions of carbon and nitrogen were followed by analysis of the soil, immediately after these additions, after they had decomposed for six months in the soil, after a maize harvest, and after a subsequent barley harvest. The various forms of carbon had decreased after six months. The rate of decrease varied with the nature of the organic materials. In all samples, the fulvic acids fraction decreased most. The main transformations happened during the first six months whether there was a crop growing or not, but the crops had no influence on the breakdown of the organic materials. The ratio of humic acids/fulvic acids had increased after six months of humification and, in general terms, the final values of the ratio oxidizable carbon/extractable carbon were lower than the initial ones, indicating a higher degree of humification in the organic matter by the end of the experiment. The total nitrogen level remained practically constant after the first six months of humification even after the second crop. Part of the organic nitrogen of the soil samples amended with chicken manure, city refuse or the two sludges was transformed into mineral nitrogen during the humification process. The extractable nitrogen values increased because of the fertilizer applied during the pot trials.     

不同形态有机碳的有效性在两种重金属污染水平下水稻土壤中的差异

调查分析了两块不同重金属污染水平下的水稻田土壤有机碳活性组分的含量,以评价重金属胁迫条件下有机碳基质的微生物有效性。结果显示,重污染水稻土的总有机碳(TOC)、0·5mol·L-1K2SO4溶解态有机碳(K2SO4-C)、微生物生物量碳(MBC)、1~7d(CO2-C1~7d)和8~28d矿化的有机碳(CO2-C8~28d)的含量均显著低于轻污染土壤(p<0·001)。碳有效性指标中,微生物商(MBC/TOC比)和8~28d的有机碳矿化率(CO2-C8~28d·TOC-1d-1))在轻污染土壤中较高,而K2SO4-C/TOC和代谢商(qCO2)在重污染土壤较高(p<0·001)。1~7d的有机碳矿化率(CO2-C1~7d·TOC-1d-1)在两种土壤中差异不显著。两种土壤培养初期的有机碳矿化率远高于培养后期(p<0·001)。逐步回归分析显示,CO2-C1~7d与活性组分K2SO4-C和MBC显著相关(r2=0·83,p<0·001),而CO2-C8~28d只与TOC显著相关(r2=0·70,p<0·001)。研究表明,尽管K2SO4溶解态有机碳在供试的重金属污染的水稻土中是较易被分解的活性碳基质,但重金属污染抑制了微生物数量及其呼吸活性,降低了活性有机碳库的矿化率,这是导致土壤中K2SO4溶解态碳积累的原因。溶解性有机碳又能提高重金属的有效性,进一步抑制微生物对有机碳的矿化。因此,评价重金属污染的水稻土有机碳的有效性,应当综合考虑不同有机碳库的活性、微生物的矿化能力和碳基质在不同阶段的供应潜力。     

Composition and mean residence time of molecular weight fractions of organic matter extracted from two soils under different forest species

The organic matter extracted from various mineral horizons of two forest soils, one under silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), the other under European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), was fractionated by dialysis into three fractions, 100–1000, 1000–8000, and >8000Da. On a C basis, in all horizons the recovered organic matter amounted to less than a half of the total and was mainly composed of molecules >8000Da. The 100–1000Da fraction had a principal elemental composition profoundly different from the other two fractions, which, instead differed from each other significantly only for the S content and the molar ratio of C with N. No significant difference in this regard was found between soils. The richness in O and some typical absorption bands in the FT-IR spectra indicated that the 100–1000Da fraction had a lot of carboxyl moieties. The spectroscopic (¹³C NMR) investigation showed that the 1000–8000 and >8000Da fractions had a prevalently aliphatic nature and signals attributable to polysaccharides (O-alkyl C) revealed overall a high presence of non-humic biopolymers. These latter were significantly more abundant, suggesting a lower degree of humification, in the >8000Da fraction than in the 1000–8000Da fraction. Comparing soils, that under beech appeared significantly richer in O-alkyl C than that under fir. The organics extracted from the A horizon of both soils had positive ¹⁴C values, indicating recent synthesis mainly due to the present forest cover. The mean residence time (MRT) of the combined 100–1000Da and 1000–8000Da fractions and the >8000Da fraction increased with depth, even to about 5000 years in the more than 1-m deep BC horizons under beech. In some cases, and especially in the soil under fir, despite higher values of ¹³C denoting stronger microbial decomposition, the 100–8000Da fraction showed a higher MRT than that of the >8000Da fraction, perhaps due to its ascertained lower content of non-humic biopolymers.     

Water relations,mineral nutrition,growth, and13C discrimination in two apple cultivars under daily episodes of high root-medium temperature

Although high soil temperatures can occur in apple orchards throughout the world, there is little information on their effect. This investigation was conducted to determine the influence of various durations of root exposure to 34 °C on the growth and physiology of the apple plant. Roots of Royal Gala and McIntosh cultivars were exposed to 34 °C for 0, 8, 16, and 24 hours/day for seven weeks. Royal Gala grown at the 24 hours/day treatment exhibited significant decreases in leaf, shoot, and root growth; chlorophyll concentration of the older leaves; transpiration; discrimination against¹³C in leaves; and an increase in leaf temperature. In McIntosh, root growth and chlorophyll concentration of leaves were not affected. For both cultivars compared to the control treatment, the continuous high temperature treatment resulted in lower levels of P, Mg, and Mn in leaves. Royal Gala at this treatment showed significantly higher values of foliar N and K and lower values of Ca, Fe, and Zn. For McIntosh the levels of Cu and B decreased significantly in this treatment as compared to the control treatment. We conclude that 34 °C in the root-zone does not stress these cultivars unless it persists throughout the day/night cycle.