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Effect of aggregation on potassium flux in a structured soil
Author(s) -
Horn Rainer,
Taubner Heidi
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
zeitschrift für pflanzenernährung und bodenkunde
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 0044-3263
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.19891520118
Subject(s) - potassium , cambisol , chemistry , diffusion , homogenization (climate) , soil structure , soil science , soil water , environmental science , thermodynamics , biodiversity , ecology , physics , organic chemistry , biology
The effect of aggregation on nutrient release by diffusion has been determined for potassium for a well structured P horizon of a Vertic Cambisol. The results clearly demonstrate that homogenization of soil material produces an increase of the potassium release by diffusion compared to that from single natural aggregates. The bigger the aggregates are the smaller is the potassium release related to unit mass per unit time, because of the longer flow paths in bigger aggregates. If the results are related to unit surface, bigger aggregates deliver significantly more potassium because of the smaller inter‐aggregate surfaces. Differences between potassium release out of differently sized aggregates further depend on the kind of extraction liquid. Values of the effective diffusion coefficient for potassium are smaller for single aggregates than for undisturbed soil samples.