Abstract
Soil culture experiments were conducted to examine the effects of water-soluble organic matter (WSOM), isolated from the Ah horizon of a forest soil on cation uptake by seedlings of Agrostis capillaris and Silene dioica. In contrast to the large effects on soil equilibria, cation uptake was only slightly affected by WSOM. Solubilized Al, Fe, Cu and Pb, were not found in higher amounts neither in the root nor in the shoot of the test species. Significant effects were only found for Cd, Mg, Mn and Zn, where uptake was either enhanced or decreased by WSOM. An experiment with several standard low molecular weight organic acids affirmed the results obtained with WSOM and supported the hypothesis that cations are taken up predominantly in the free ionic form and not as organic complexes. Results are discussed in relation to the effects often found for fulvic and humic acids.
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Kuiters, A.T., Mulder, W. Water-soluble organic matter in forest soils. Plant Soil 152, 225–235 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029092
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029092