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Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics pp 17–44Cite as

Organic Matter and Micro-Organisms in Tropical Soils

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Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 21))

Abstract

The effects of soil properties and land-use management on soil organic matter, soil microbial biomass and microbial activity, as well as their interrelationships, were investigated in tropical soils. In general, the soils were moderately acidic, with a mean soil pH of 5.9. The mean contents of soil organic C and total N were 16.3 mg g−1 and 1.3 mg g−1 soil respectively, and were lowest in the arable soils. The mean content of all microbial biomass C data was 270 µg g−1 soil, ranging from 20 to 2,830 µg g−1 soil. It was again significantly lowest in the arable soils, reaching only 40% of the forest soils. Microbial biomass N followed microbial biomass C, with a relatively large mean C/N ratio of 10.5. The mean microbial biomass C-to-soil organic C ratio was 1.7% in all soils. It was lowest in the arable soils and highest in the plantation and forest soils, but generally lower than in soils from a humid temperate climate. One important reason is the generally low pH level of most soils. The mean metabolic quotient was 52 mg CO2-C g−1 microbial biomass C d−1 and showed a significant inverse relationship with the microbial biomass C-to-soil organic C ratio. This indicates a poorer efficiency of substrate use of the soil microbial community. Microbial biomass P is a severely neglected area of soil biological research, despite the importance of phosphorus in tropical soils.

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  1. Department of Soil Biology and Plant Nutrition, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstr. 1a, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    Rainer Georg Joergensen

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  1. Dépt. Phytologie, Université Laval, avenue de la Médecine 1030, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Patrice Dion

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Joergensen, R.G. (2010). Organic Matter and Micro-Organisms in Tropical Soils. In: Dion, P. (eds) Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics. Soil Biology, vol 21. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05076-3_2

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