Summary
Various kinds of preincubation resulted in great changes in the shape of the respiration curves. The oxidative component is influenced only a little, but it is destroyed by drying. If mineral nutrients are present the increase of the assimilative component results in an exponential increase of respiration rate apparently similar to the growth in number of micro-organisms in a bacterial culture. The “mean duplication time”T is the most important parameter of this process. The ratio of oxygen absorbed to glucose consumed during primary oxidation is also influenced by preincubation — the maximal value being reached after anaerobical preincubation.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature
Birch, H. F., The effect of soil drying on humus decomposition and nitrogen availability. Plant and Soil10, 9–31 (1958).
Corbet, S. A., Studies on tropical soil microbiology: I. The evolution of carbon dioxide from the soil and the bacterial growth curve. Soil Sci.37, 109–115 (1934).
Drobník, J., Primary oxidation of organic matter in the soil. I. The form of respiration curves with glucose as the substrate. Plant and Soil12, 199–211 (1960).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Drobník, J. Primary oxidation of organic matter in the soil. Plant Soil 12, 212–222 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01343650
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01343650