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Mineralization of Carbon and Nitrogen from Freeze‐ and Oven‐Dried Plant Material Added to Soil
Author(s) -
Moorhead K. K.,
Graetz D. A.,
Reddy K. R.
Publication year - 1988
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/sssaj1988.03615995005200050025x
Subject(s) - mineralization (soil science) , loam , hyacinth , chemistry , nitrogen , freeze drying , nitrogen cycle , soil water , environmental science , chromatography , soil science , organic chemistry
Drying organic material before soil incorporation is a common procedure used in mineralization or decomposition studies. A laboratory study was conducted to determine the effect of drying methods on plant C and N and associated mineralization patterns in soil. Freeze‐ and oven‐dried water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes [Mart] Solms) was added to a Kendrick soil (loamy, siliceous, hyperthermic Arenic Paleudults) at a rate of 5 g kg −1 and incubated in the dark at 27 °C for 90 d. Oven drying in paper bags significantly increased the lignin content and decreased the mineral content of the plant material compared to freeze drying. The total C and N was not significantly different for the two materials. The mineralization of C from freeze‐dried plant material was more rapid during the initial stage of decomposition and remained significantly higher throughout the incubation. At 90 d, 50 and 41% of the plant C had evolved as CO 2 for the freeze‐ and oven‐dried plant material, respectively. Mineralization of 15 N from the plant material accounted for 33% of the applied N of the freeze‐dried material and 23% of the applied N of the oven‐dried material. Nitrogen mineralization and CO 2 evolution were linearly correlated ( r = 0.998) for the oven‐dried plant material, but less correlated ( r = 0.770) for the freeze‐dried material.