Open AccessElemental Sulfur Reduces to Sulfide in Black Layer Soil
Author(s) -
William L. Berndt,
J. M. Vargas
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
hortscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.518
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 2327-9834
pISSN - 0018-5345
DOI - 10.21273/hortsci.43.5.1615
Subject(s) - sulfur , sulfide , redox , chemistry , sulfate , hydrogen sulfide , nitrate , inorganic chemistry , environmental chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry
Black layer (BL) has reduced the quality of many putting greens since the 1980s. Initially, the nature of BL was unknown. Research established that BL was sulfide (S 2− ) formed in response to low redox. Its formation was linked to dissimilative sulfate reduction using labeled sulfate ( 35 SO 4 2− ). The objective of this study was to see if elemental sulfur (S 0 ) reduced to S 2− . When labeled sulfur ( 35 S 0 ) with a specific activity of 3.7 × 10 4 Bq·mg −1 was added to soil from a green with BL in a reaction vessel kept at a low redox potential, it reduced at a per-minute rate of 5.3 nmol·cm −3 , resulting in accrual of labeled hydrogen sulfide (H 2 35 S) and acid-soluble sulfide (AS 35 S). Nearly 32% of the 35 S 0 reduced to labeled sulfide ( 35 S 2– ) in 24 h. Adding S 0 to greens with low redox may result in rapid formation of S 2– and an accelerated rate of BL development. Avoiding this requires limiting the input of S 0 or encouraging high soil redox through chemical or physical means such as fertilizing with nitrate (NO 3 – ) and aerifying. This is the first report implicating S 0 reduction as a source of BL development in putting green soil.