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Effect of periodate treatment of soil on carbohydrate constituents and soil aggregation
Author(s) -
CHESHIRE M. V.,
SPARLING G. P.,
MUNDIE C. M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1983.tb00817.x
Subject(s) - carbohydrate , chemistry , xylose , arabinose , sugar , sodium periodate , residue (chemistry) , periodate , polysaccharide , food science , chromatography , biochemistry , organic chemistry , fermentation
Summary Soil from a field under long‐term grass was treated with 0.02 m sodium periodate for various periods up to 1176 h, followed by 0.1 d sodium tetraborate for 6 h. This destroyed an increasing proportion of microaggregates >45 μm and carbohydrate. After periodate treatment for 6 h about 70% of the soil sugars remained in the residue as measured by reducing sugar content and about 67% as individual sugars measured by gas‐liquid chromatography. After 48 h the reducing sugar content was about 45%. An inverse linear relationship was established between the proportion by weight of microaggregates >45 μm and residual carbohydrate. The residual carbohydrate showed an enrichment in sugars commonly found in plant materials; glucose, arabinose and xylose, suggesting that the microbial carbohydrate had been preferentially destroyed. When the concentration of the periodate was increased to 0.05 m the residue contained about 50% of the original carbohydrate after 6 h treatment, and 25% after 48 h and an additional increase of about 10% in the proportion by weight of particles in the <45 μm range. These results throw doubt on the validity of assumptions made in a number of studies about the limited extent to which soil polysaccharide is involved in aggregation.