Soil-organic-matter stability in sandy cropland soils is related to land-use history

Sandy cropland soils in NW Europe were found to contain unusually high organic-carbon (OC) levels, and a link with their land-use history has been suggested. This study's aim was to assess the discriminating power of physical and chemical fractionation procedures to yield information on soil-or...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of plant nutrition and soil science 2010-02, Vol.173 (1), p.19-29
Main Authors: Sleutel, Steven, Abdul Kader, Mohammed, Ara Begum, Shamim, De Neve, Stefaan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
C mineralization
chemical fractionation
NaOCl
sandy soils
soil organic matter
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Summary:Sandy cropland soils in NW Europe were found to contain unusually high organic-carbon (OC) levels, and a link with their land-use history has been suggested. This study's aim was to assess the discriminating power of physical and chemical fractionation procedures to yield information on soil-organic-matter (OM) stability for these soils. In relict- and cultivated-heathland soils, much higher proportions of 6% NaOCl treatment-resistant but 10% HF-soluble OC (MOC) and N (32.2% and 29.9%) were measured compared to a set of "permanent"-cropland soils without a history of heathland land use (11.9% and 8.5%). Also, the proportions of 6% NaOCl- and 10% HF treatment-resistant OC and N in the relict and cultivated heathlands (19.2% and 12.0%) were higher than in the permanent-cropland soils (17.7% and 5.7%). Stepwise multiple linear-regression yielded a significant relationship between the annual mineralization (g C [100 g OC]⁻¹), soil OC (g C kg⁻¹) content, and %MOC: Annual mineralization = 4.347 - 0.087 soil OC - 0.032 %MOC (R² = 0.65). Combinations of incubation experiments for quantification of the labile soil OM pool with chemical fractionation may thus yield meaningful data for development of soil-organic-matter models with measurable pools, but their applicability will be limited to specific combinations of former land use with soil, climate, and current management.
ISSN:1436-8730
1522-2624
1522-2624
DOI:10.1002/jpln.200900062