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Significance of microbial biomass for carbon and nitrogen mineralization in soil
Author(s) -
Kaiser ErnstAugust
Publication year - 1994
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.19941570405
Subject(s) - mineralization (soil science) , nitrogen cycle , incubation , biomass (ecology) , chemistry , environmental chemistry , straw , arable land , nitrogen , agronomy , soil water , loess , total organic carbon , environmental science , soil science , ecology , biology , agriculture , paleontology , biochemistry , organic chemistry
C and N mineralization was quantified in an incubation experiment with two samples containing different amounts of microbial biomass. The samples from two layers (0–20, 20–30 cm) of an arable luvisol from loess were fertilized with nitrate, mixed with 14 C‐labelled straw and incubated for 52 days at different O 2 levels. Decreasing O 2 concentrations (21, 2, 1 and 0% O 2 ) in soil conducted a decrease in C and N mineralization. More C and N were mineralized in samples with a higher initial microbial biomass. The differences in microbial biomass were still present at the end of the experiment, but more proliferation was detected in samples with the lower initial microbial biomass, leading to equal ratios between microbial biomass‐C and soil organic C in both soils.