Abstract
Two field experiments, in the south of Italy, were established in 2009 to study and characterize soil organic matter (SOM) during transition to organic farming. Experiments included a cereal/leguminous rotation fertilized with permitted amendments with three field replicates. A sequential fractionation procedure was used to separate different SOM fractions: light fraction (LF), two size classes of particulate organic matter (POM), mobile humic acid (MHA), and Ca-bound humic acid (CaHA). Isolated fractions were quantified and analyzed for their C and N content and carbohydrate and amino compound composition. The masses of the isolated fractions increased during 2-year course, with noticeable increases in LF and POM. Moreover, LF and POM were found more responsive than MHA to treatment and crop. The xylose/mannose ratio explained that MHA-carbohydrates were mainly of microbial origin, while LF- and POM-carbohydrates were of plant origin. Amino compounds constituted up to 30% of total soil N and were found to be more responsive to seasonal variation than to agronomic practices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cao, X., D.C. Olk, M. Chappell, C.A. Cambardella, L.F. Miller, and J. Mao. 2011. Solid-state NMR analysis of soil organic matter fractions from integrated physical–chemical extraction. Soil Science Society of America Journal 75: 1374–1384.
Martens, D.A., and K.L. Loeffelmann. 2002. Improved accounting of carbohydrate carbon from plants and soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 34: 1393–1399.
Martens, D.A., and K.L. Loeffelmann. 2003. Soil amino acid composition quantified by acid hydrolysis and anion chromatography-pulsed amperometry. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51: 6521–6522.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Zhejiang University Press and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Abdelrahman, H.M., Olk, D.C., Cocozza, C., Ventrella, D., Montemurro, F., Miano, T. (2013). Integrated Physical-Chemical Procedure for Soil Organic Carbon Fractionation and Characterization During Transition to Organic Farming. In: Xu, J., Wu, J., He, Y. (eds) Functions of Natural Organic Matter in Changing Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5634-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5634-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5633-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5634-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)