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Composition of carbon fractions and potential denitrification in drained peat soils
Author(s) -
JÖRGENSEN R. G.,
RICHTER G. M.
Publication year - 1992
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.1365-2389.1992.tb00142.x
Subject(s) - peat , chemistry , environmental chemistry , soil water , organic matter , amino sugar , fractionation , carbon fibers , composition (language) , soil organic matter , dissolved organic carbon , denitrification , chernozem , total organic carbon , nitrogen , organic chemistry , soil science , ecology , geology , biology , linguistics , materials science , philosophy , composite number , composite material
SUMMARY The organic matter of five low‐moor peat soils and one eutrophic raised‐bog peat soil was chemically characterized by C fractionation and ion‐exchange chromatography of amino acids and carbohydrates. C fractions were related to potential denitrification, D pot , as a measure of microbial activity and C availability, determined by the acetylene inhibition technique. Chemical and physical properties vary distinctively between different kinds of peat, and show increasing C/N ratio and decreasing bulk density and ash content within the profile. Generally, the carbon composition reflects the geobotanical origin of the peat. In most samples more than 65% of organic C consists of non‐hydrolysable C. Readily hydrolysable neutral sugar C represents up to about 12% of organic C, usually decreasing with depth. The recalcitrant fraction of neutral sugar C is much smaller (1 to 4.2% of organic C) and does not vary with depth. The content of readily hydrolysable glucose exhibits a strong profile differentiation that decreases with depth, whereas the higher contents of recalcitrant glucose carbon (12/0.5 M H 2 SO 4 ) in the lower peat horizons reflect their cellulose character. Regression analysis between D pot and single C components explains up to 51.5% of the variability. Combining fractions which point to C availability (readily hydrolysable glucose) and microbial metabolism (amino acids), it is possible to estimate D pot with a certainty of more than 80%.