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Oxygen diffusion and aerobic respiration in columns of fine soil crumbs
Author(s) -
Greenwood D. J.,
Goodman D.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740160306
Subject(s) - respiration , oxygen , chemistry , diffusion , saturation (graph theory) , aeration , soil respiration , oxygen saturation , environmental chemistry , soil science , environmental science , botany , thermodynamics , biology , mathematics , physics , organic chemistry , combinatorics
Experiments are described which support the validity of an equation defining the extent to which microbial aerobic respiration in columns of fine soil crumbs is restricted by diffusion in the gas phase between the crumbs. Columns, exposed at one of their ends to air, but closed at the other, were prepared from sieved fractions of soil crumbs. Different aeration treatments were imposed by water‐saturation followed by draining to different extents. Since the respiration rate of soil micro‐organisms is unaffected by lowering the oxygen concentration down to approx. 3 μM, the respiration rates in such columns are proportional to the lengths of the zones having oxygen concentrations greater than 3μM and are thus aerobic. The equation was tested, therefore, by determining the lengths of these aerobic zones by two different methods (one based on the equation and one not) described in detail. The mean lengths determined by these methods were 4·3 cm. and 3·7 cm., respectively.