Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(6):231-237 | DOI: 10.17221/35/2009-PSE

Chemical and microbiological characterization of Cambisols, Luvisols and Stagnosols

L. Růžek1, M. Růžková1,3, K. Voříšek1, J. Kubát2, M. Friedlová2, O. Mikanová2
1 Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
2 Crop Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic
3 Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture, Brno, Czech Republic

Cambisols, Luvisols and Stagnosols are main soil taxonomical units covering 78% of the total area of the Czech Republic. In the period 2001-2008 soil samples from 13 arable and 2 grassed localities were collected and tested. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) was determined using microwave irradiation method (MW), chloroform fumigation extraction method (FE) and re-hydration technique (RHD). Soil samples were moistened, according to the content of organic carbon (Corg), by deionized water addition (%Corg × 0.19 ml/g DM - dry mass of soil) immediately before MBC determination. Microwave sterilization (800 J/g DM = 600 W, 2 × 67 s, 100 g DM (10 soil samples) and microwave soil extracts digestion (800 J/ml = 250 W, 77 s, 24 ml) give the lowest values of MBC (204 ± 67 mg/kg DM; 100%) in comparison with FE (236 ± 57 mg/kg DM; 116%) and RHD (478 ± 138 mg/kg DM; 235%), respectively. High significant correlation (r = 0.9713) was found between TC (total carbon; 1.36 ± 0.29%) and TN (total nitrogen; 0.15 ± 0.03%) determined by CNS analyzer. Furthermore, high significant correlations were found between MBC-MW and MBC-RHD (r = 0.8965) as well as MBC-FE and DHA (dehydrogenase activity; r = 0.8094), respectively. DHA in studied soils reached 147 ± 68 mg of triphenylformazan/kg DM/24 h. Corg formed 96% of TC and total Kjeldahl nitrogen 97% of TN, respectively. According our results MW is fully acceptable for MBC determination.

Keywords: microbial biomass; total carbon and nitrogen; K2SO4 extractable carbon; dehydrogenase; Cambisols; Luvisols; Inceptisols; Alfisols

Published: June 30, 2009  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Růžek L, Růžková M, Voříšek K, Kubát J, Friedlová M, Mikanová O. Chemical and microbiological characterization of Cambisols, Luvisols and Stagnosols. Plant Soil Environ. 2009;55(6):231-237. doi: 10.17221/35/2009-PSE.
Download citation

References

  1. Blagodatskiy S.A., Blagodatskaya E.V., Gorbenko A.Y., Panikov N.S. (1987): A re-hydration method of determining the biomass of microorganisms in soil. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 19: 119-126.
  2. Dedourge O., Vong P.C., Lasserre-Joulin F., Benizri E., Guckert A. (2004): Effects of glucose and rhizodeposits (with or without cysteine-S) on immobilized 35S, microbial biomass 35S and arylsulphatase activity in a calcareous and an acid brown soil. European Journal of Soil Science, 55: 649-656. Go to original source...
  3. EN 13342 (2000): Characterization of Sludges. Determination of Kjeldahl Nitrogen. European Committee for Standardization, Brussels.
  4. Haberle J., Svoboda P., Raimanová I. (2008): The effect of post-anthesis water supply on grain nitrogen concentration and grain nitrogen yield of winter wheat. Plant, Soil and Environment, 54: 304-312. Go to original source...
  5. Hofman J., Dusek L. (2003): Biochemical analysis of soil organic matter and microbial biomass composition - a pilot study. European Journal of Soil Biology, 39: 217-224. Go to original source...
  6. Insam H., Domsch K.H. (1988): Relationship between soil organic carbon and microbial biomass on chronosequences of reclaimed sites. Microbial Ecology, 15: 177-188. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
  7. Islam K.R., Weil R.R. (1998): Microwave irradiation of soil for routine measurement of microbial biomass carbon. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 27: 408-416. Go to original source...
  8. ISO 11277 (1998): Soil Quality-Determination of Particle Size Distribution in Mineral Soil Material. Method by Sieving and Sedimentation Following Removal of Soluble Salt Organic Matter and Carbonates. International Organization for Standardization, Geneve.
  9. Kiem R., Kandeler E. (1997): Stabilization of aggregates by the microbial biomass as affected by soil texture and type. Applied Soil Ecology, 5: 221-230. Go to original source...
  10. Mikanová O., Javůrek M., Vach M., Markupová A. (2006): The influence of tillage on selected biological parameters. Plant, Soil and Environment, 52: 271-274. Go to original source...
  11. Mikanová O., Friedlová M., Šimon T. (2009): The influence of fertilisation and crop rotation on soil microbial characteristics in the long-term field experiment. Plant, Soil and Environment, 55: 11-16. Go to original source...
  12. Öhlinger R. (1995): Dehydrogenase activity with the substrate TTC. In: Schinner F., Öhlinger R., Kandeler E., Margesin R. (eds.): Methods in Soil Biology. Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York, 241-243.
  13. Pospíšil F. (1981): Group - and fractional - composition of the humus of different soils. In: Transactions of the 5th International Soil Science Conference, Vol. 1. Research Institute for Soil Improvement, Prague, 135-138.
  14. Růžek L., Voříšek K., Nováková M., Strnadová S. (2006): Microbial, chemical and textural parameters of main soil taxonomical units of Czech Republic. Plant, Soil and Environment, 52: 29-35.
  15. Sims J.R., Haby V.A. (1971): Simplified colorimetric determination of soil organic matter. Soil Science, 112: 137-141. Go to original source...
  16. Šimon T. (2005): Aliphatic compounds, organic C and N and microbial biomass and its activity in longterm field experiment. Plant, Soil and Environment, 51: 276-282. Go to original source...
  17. Vance E.D., Brookes P.C., Jenkinson D.S. (1987): An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 19: 703-707. Go to original source...
  18. Wojewoda D., Russel S. (2003): The impact of a shelterbelt on soil properties and microbial activity in an adjacent crop field. Polish Journal of Ecology, 51: 291-307.
  19. Yakovchenko V.P., Sikora L.J. (1998): Modified dichromate method for determining low concentrations of extractable organic carbon in soil. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 29: 421-433. Go to original source...

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.