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Microbial oxidation of elemental sulphur in brown soil

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Summary

Brown soil formed from loamy clay was examined for its ability to produce sulphate from added elemental suphur.

At higher rates of sulphur applications the pH of a slightly acid soil decreased to a value of about 2. The addition of 4 times more calcium carbonate as sulphur protected this soil against a decrease in pH.

The soil containing sulphur and calcium carbonate produced more sulphate than soil treated only with sulphur. This phenomenon is probably due to better conditions for development of different groups of micro-organisms.

The numbers of sulphur oxidizing micro-organisms amounted to 3.0 × 10 per g in the soil with 0.5 to 1.0 per cent sulphur and to 4.0 × 109 in the soil treated with sulphur and calcium carbonate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, Pulawy, Poland

    Z. Adamczyk-Winiarska, M. Król & J. Kobus

Authors
  1. Z. Adamczyk-Winiarska
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  2. M. Król
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  3. J. Kobus
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Additional information

Paper read at the Symposium on the Sulphur Cycle, Wageningen, May 1974.

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Adamczyk-Winiarska, Z., Król, M. & Kobus, J. Microbial oxidation of elemental sulphur in brown soil. Plant Soil 43, 95–100 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928478

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928478

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