Summary
The mineralization of carbon and nitrogen in a calcareous sandy loam soil with and without the addition of lucerne meal and incubated continuously for 12 weeks, was compared with the mineralization of carbon and nitrogen in similar soils dried and rewetted every two weeks. The amount of carbon and nitrogen mineralized and the total number of micro-organisms were determined periodically.
Intermittent drying at 35°C of the soil without lucerne meal brought about a somewhat larger production of CO2 after the first and second drying, but ultimately a somewhat smaller production than the continuously incubated soil. Intermittent drying at 105°C stimulated CO2-production very markedly so that much more CO2 was eventually produced than by the continuously incubated soil. A stimulation of CO2-production of the lucerne meal in the soils periodically dried at 35°C or at 105°C was hardly perceptible after the first drying. Repeated drying and rewetting depressed the decomposition of the lucerne meal; this was very marked in the soil periodically dried at 105°C.
The increase in the number of micro-organisms after each treatment persisted for some days or weeks longer than the increase in CO2-poduction, indicating that the young state of the bacterial population was most active.
The mineralization of nitrogen of the humus was stimulated by drying, and was far greater in the soil periodically dried at 105°C than in the soil periodically dried at 35°C. An important fraction of the larger amount of mineral nitrogen found at the end of the experiment was a direct result of the drying process not associated with biological activity. A smaller amount of mineral nitrogen was produced after 12 weeks in the soils with lucerne meal periodically dried at 35°C and 105°C than in the same soil incubated continuously, giving strong evidence for a decrease in the rate of decomposition of the lucerne meal in the intermittently dried soils.
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Van Schreven, D.A. The effect of intermittent drying and wetting of a calcareous soil on carbon and nitrogen mineralization. Plant Soil 26, 14–32 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01978673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01978673