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Accumulation and Mineralization of Microbial Organic Phosphorus in Soil Materials
Author(s) -
Thompson L. M.,
Black C. A.,
Clark F. E.
Publication year - 1949
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1949.036159950013000c0042x
Subject(s) - agriculture , soil water , mineralization (soil science) , library science , management , political science , engineering , environmental science , geography , archaeology , soil science , computer science , economics
' I 'HE organic phosphorus in soils apparently consists •*mainly of phytin and its derivatives together with an equal or smaller quantity of nucleic acid and its derivatives and a very small amount of phospholipid (3, 4, 6, 19, 21) . Phytin has not been found as a constituent of micro-organisms; hence, it appears that the phytin in soils is residual from plant materials. Nucleic acid, on the other hand, is a major organic phosphatic component of micro-organisms (2, 12, 13). Since nucleic acid is a source of energy for micro-organisms and is readily decomposed (10), it is probable that nucleic acid added to the.soil in plant materials does not remain in the soil as such, but is decomposed, a portion being resynthesized into microbial tissue. If this decomposition and resynthesis takes place, the nucleic acid fraction of soil organic phosphorus should be present largely as accumulated living microbial tissue and as dead tissue in varying stages of decomposition. From this point of view, the phytin is a relatively stable, slowly-decomposing fraction that suffers rapid changes only upon periodic additions of phytin-bearing plant residues. The nucleic acid, however, which represents the microbial portion, will fluctuate more rapidly with the phosphorus immobilization and mineralization accompanying all increases and decreases in the microbial population. The nucleic acid is thus a more dynamic fraction than is phytin.