scholarly journals Phosphorus Behaviour and Its Basic Indices under Organic Matter Transformation in Variable Moisture Conditions: A Case Study of Fen Organic Soils in the Odra River Valley, Poland

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1997
Author(s):  
Magdalena Debicka ◽  
Adam Bogacz ◽  
Karolina Kowalczyk

Lowering of groundwater levels caused by anthropogenic changes in the environment gives rise to global problems, most of which relate to soil degradation such as land desertification or organic soil degradation. The transformation of drainage-sensitive organic soils causes many irreversible changes during organic matter (OM) transformation. Phosphorous (P) behaviour is one of the aspects of OM transformation that requires further investigation, due to the P transformations’ complex dependency on many environmental factors. Our study aimed to characterise behaviour of P and find indices reflecting P changes under the influence of OM transformation in drained organic soils in the Odra river valley. The studies were carried out on soils representing different stages of soil degradation in which basic soil properties, including different P forms, were determined with commonly used methods. The results showed significantly higher content of soluble P forms (Pw, PCaCl2, PM3), particularly in the most drained postmurshic soil (P1). The indices used in this study—Ip, PSD, C:Pt, N:Pt—reflected well the P and OM transformations in organic soils degraded by drainage. This was indicated by numerous statistically significant relationships between the indices and basic soil properties (e.g., Ash, C, N), as well as different P forms (Pt, Pmin, Pox, Porg, Pw, PCaCl2, PM3). The PSD and Ip values increased and the C:Pt and N:Pt ratios decreased with the degree of OM mineralisation and the degree of site drainage (P3 < P2 < P1).

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-370
Author(s):  
Jose V. Fernandez ◽  
D. Calvin Odero ◽  
Gregory E. MacDonald ◽  
Jason A. Ferrell ◽  
Brent A. Sellers ◽  
...  

AbstractDissipation of S-metolachlor, a soil-applied herbicide, on organic and mineral soils used for sugarcane production in Florida was evaluated using field studies in 2013 to 2016. S-metolachlor was applied PRE at 2,270 g ha−1 on organic and mineral soils with 75% and 1.6% organic matter, respectively. The rate of dissipation of S-metolachlor was rapid on mineral soils compared with organic soils. Dissipation of S-metolachlor on organic soils followed a negative linear trend resulting in half-lives (DT50) ranging from 50 to 126 d. S-metolachlor loss on organic soils was more rapid under high soil-moisture conditions than in corresponding low soil-moisture conditions. On mineral soils, dissipation of S-metolachlor followed an exponential decline. The DT50 of S-metolachlor on mineral soils ranged from 12 to 24 d. The short persistence of S-metolachlor on mineral soils was likely attributed to low organic matter content with limited adsorptive capability. The results indicate that organic matter content and soil moisture are important for persistence of S-metolachlor on organic and mineral soils used for sugarcane production in Florida.


1967 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schnitzer

Twenty organic-soil samples of widely differing degrees of decomposition were extracted with 0.5 N NaOH solution under N2. Amounts of humic and of fulvic acids in the acidified extracts did not correlate significantly with pyrophosphate solubilities. This was thought to be due to interference in the separation scheme by relatively large amounts of ash constituents in the extracts. Since the "classical" fractionation of soil organic matter appears to involve essentially the "salting out" of higher molecular-weight humic from lower molecular-weight fulvic acids, an excessively high salt concentration during the separation should be avoided.To lower the concentration of inorganic constituents in the extracts, the samples were first pretreated with dilute HCl–HF solution and then extracted with 0.1 N NaOH rather than with 0.5 N NaOH. Under these conditions, amounts of fulvic acids in the acidified extracts showed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.52) with pyrophosphate solubilities of untreated extracts, whereas amounts of humic acids in the extracts exhibited a highly negative correlation (r = −0.57) with pyrophosphate solubilities. In the soils examined, increased humification was associated with increases in fulvic-acid but decreases in humic-acid concentrations.From the results of this and of earlier investigations done in this laboratory it appeared that the main mechanism governing humification in these soils was oxidative degradation, resulting ultimately in the formation of fulvic from humic acid.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vilhelmiina Harju ◽  
Ilkka Närhi ◽  
Marja Mattsson ◽  
Kaisa Kerminen ◽  
Merja H. Kontro

Views on the entry of organic pollutants into the organic matter (OM) decaying process are divergent, and in part poorly understood. To clarify these interactions, pesticide dissipation was monitored in organic and mineral soils not adapted to contaminants for 241 days; in groundwater sediment slurries adapted to pesticides for 399 days; and in their sterilized counterparts with and without peat (5%) or compost-peat-sand (CPS, 15%) mixture addition. The results showed that simazine, atrazine and terbuthylazine (not sediment slurries) were chemically dissipated in the organic soil, and peat or CPS-amended soils and sediment slurries, but not in the mineral soil or sediment slurries. Hexazinone was chemically dissipated best in the peat amended mineral soil and sediment slurries. In contrast, dichlobenil chemically dissipated in the mineral soil and sediment slurries. The dissipation product 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) concentrations were lowest in the mineral soil, while dissipation was generally poor regardless of plant-derived OM, only algal agar enhanced its chemical dissipation. Based on sterilized counterparts, only terbutryn appeared to be microbially degraded in the organic soil, i.e., chemical dissipation of pesticides would appear to be utmost important, and could be the first response in the natural cleansing capacity of the environment, during which microbial degradation evolves. Consistent with compound-specific dissipation in the mineral or organic environments, long-term concentrations of pentachloroaniline and hexachlorobenzene were lowest in the mineral-rich soils, while concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DTT) and metabolites were lowest in the organic soils of old market gardens. OM amendments changed pesticide dissipation in the mineral soil towards that observed in the organic soil; that is OM accelerated, slowed down or stopped dissipation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 01010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Wen Law ◽  
Felix Ngee-Leh Ling ◽  
Boon-Khiang Ng

Organic soil is known as low strength material, and chemical stabilization is widely used to increase its bearing capacity. However, the use of traditional stabilizer has some limitations. Therefore, stabilization was carried out by using non-traditional stabilizer - Vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) copolymer emulsion in this study with the aim to determine its suitability to stabilize soil mixed with organic matter. Two types of artificial organic soil with kaolin: organic acid ratio of 5:5 (K5HA5) and 7:3 (K7HA3) were utilized. Control specimens were tested using pure kaolin. Different percentages of VAE (5%, 7.5%, 10%) were added in order to determine the minimum amount of stabilizer required to achieve a minimum strength increment of a 345 kPa. The strength of samples was determined with automated unconfined compressive test device. Specimens were air cured for 7 days prior to testing. Both K7HA3 with 7.5% VAE and K5HA5 with 10% VAE had achieved the minimum strength increment to be considered as effective stabilization. The strength of the artificial organic soil was found to be increasing with the increment of percentages of VAE used. Hence, it can be concluded that stabilizing mechanism of the artificial organic soils with VAE is not affected by organic matter.


2014 ◽  
Vol 905 ◽  
pp. 362-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix N.L. Ling ◽  
Khairul Anuar Kassim ◽  
Ahmad Tarmizi Abdul Karim ◽  
S.C. Ho

Lime is widely used as chemical stabilizer in soft soil stabilization. However, lime is reported to be less effective when dealing with organic soil. It is believed that the organic matter in the soil will retard the pozzolanic reaction which is responsible for strength enhancement. The heterogeneity nature of the organic matter in the soil makes the study complicated and reduced the repeatability of the test results. Hence, artificial organic soil with known organic matter and content are preferred by researchers when repeatability of the test results are required in determining the influential effect of each contribution factor. Various factors such as additive contents, effect of aging (curing periods), curing temperature, density of materials and moisture content are reported by previous researchers as the potential contributing factors towards the strength development. It is believed that the interaction of the factors also will contribute to the strength enhancement. Hence, this study is carried out to evaluate the contributing factors and its interactions on strength development of artificial organic soils with known type and contents of organic matter. Statistical design of experiment (DOE) approach was utilized to evaluate the factors and its interaction on the strength development of lime stabilized artificial organic soils by using commercial statistics package. Three main factors were investigated: effect of organic content, effect of curing periods, and effect of additive, while other factors namely curing temperature, molding water content, types of compaction and compactive effort were keep constant through controlled experiments. Processed kaolin (inorganic material) is mixed with humic acid (organic matter) to simulate the organic soil which comprised of inorganic soil and organic matter. The density of the soil specimen and its moisture content were recorded before and after the curing process. General Linear Model (GLM) was utilized to determine the significance of the main factors, two-factor interactions, and three factor interactions. The significance factors and interactions were utilized in multiple regression analysis to develop the strength prediction model which can be utilized to predict the strength of stabilized materials within the inference space defined by the experiment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debjani Sihi ◽  
Stefan Gerber

&lt;p class=&quot;rolelistitem&quot;&gt;Models of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition are critical for predicting the fate of soil carbon (and nutrient) under changing climate. Traditionally, models have used a simple set-up where the substrate is divided into conceptual pools to represent their resistance to microbial degradation, and decomposition rates are often proportional to the amount of substrate in each pool. Emerging models now consider explicit microbial dynamics and show that SOM loss under warming may be fundamentally different from the classical models. Microbial explicit models use reaction kinetics, represented on a concentration basis. However, when the substrate makes up most of the volume of soils (e.g., the organic horizon in forest soils or peat), an increase or decrease in SOM does not, or only very little, affect concentrations of microbes and substrate. Consequently, reduction in SOM does not reduce the amount of substrate the microbial biomass encounters. This problem does not occur in classical models like CENTURY. We incorporated the effect of organic matter on soil volume in several microbial models. If microbes are solely limited by enzymes, organic soils or peats are decomposed very quickly as there is no mechanism that stops the positive feedback between microbial growth and SOM concentration until the substrate is gone. Alternative formulations that account for carbon limitation or microbial &amp;#8216;cannibalism&amp;#8217; display a sweet spot of soil carbon concentration. Interestingly, a response to warming will depend on the amount of organic vs. mineral materials. Apparent Q&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; was higher in fully organic soil than in mineral soils, which was pronounced when small to moderate amounts of the mineral matter was present that diluted the substrate for microbes. We suggest that model formulations need to be clear about the assumption in key processes, as each of the steps in the cascade of biogeochemical reaction can produce surprising results.&lt;/p&gt;


Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunday Adenrele Adeniyi ◽  
Willem Petrus de Clercq ◽  
Adriaan van Niekerk

Abstract. Cocoa agroecosystems are a major land-use type in the tropical rainforest belt of West Africa, reportedly associated with several ecological changes, including soil degradation. This study aims to develop a composite soil degradation assessment index (CSDI) for determining the degradation level of cocoa soils under smallholder agroecosystems of southwestern Nigeria. Plots where natural forests have been converted to cocoa agroecosystems of ages 1–10, 11–40, and 41–80 years, respectively representing young cocoa plantations (YCPs), mature cocoa plantations (MCPs), and senescent cocoa plantations (SCPs), were identified to represent the biological cycle of the cocoa tree. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0 to 20 cm in each plot and analysed in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological properties. Factor analysis of soil data revealed four major interacting soil degradation processes: decline in soil nutrients, loss of soil organic matter, increase in soil acidity, and the breakdown of soil textural characteristics over time. These processes were represented by eight soil properties (extractable zinc, silt, soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), available phosphorus, total porosity, pH, and clay content). These soil properties were subjected to forward stepwise discriminant analysis (STEPDA), and the result showed that four soil properties (extractable zinc, cation exchange capacity, SOM, and clay content) are the most useful in separating the studied soils into YCP, MCP, and SCP. In this way, we have sufficiently eliminated redundancy in the final selection of soil degradation indicators. Based on these four soil parameters, a CSDI was developed and used to classify selected cocoa soils into three different classes of degradation. The results revealed that 65 % of the selected cocoa farms are moderately degraded, while 18 % have a high degradation status. The numerical value of the CSDI as an objective index of soil degradation under cocoa agroecosystems was statistically validated. The results of this study reveal that soil management should promote activities that help to increase organic matter and reduce Zn deficiency over the cocoa growth cycle. Finally, the newly developed CSDI can provide an early warning of soil degradation processes and help farmers and extension officers to implement rehabilitation practices on degraded cocoa soils.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunday Adenrele Adeniyi ◽  
Willem Petrus de Clercq ◽  
Adriaan van Niekerk

Abstract. Cocoa agroforestry is a major landuse type in the tropical rainforest belt of West Africa, reportedly associated with several ecological changes, including soil degradation. This study aims to develop a composite soil degradation assessment index (CSDI) for determining the degradation level of cocoa soils under smallholder agroforests of southwest Nigeria. Plots where natural forests have been converted to cocoa plantations of ages 1–10 years, 11–40 years and 41–80 years, respectively representing young cocoa plantations (YCP), mature cocoa plantations (MCP) and senescent cocoa plantations (SCP) were identified to represent the biological cycle of the cocoa tree. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0–20 cm in each plot and analysed in terms of their physical, chemical and biological properties. Factor analysis of soil data revealed four major interacting soil degradation processes, decline in soil nutrient, loss of soil organic matter, increase in soil acidity and the breakdown of soil textural characteristics over time. These processes were represented by eight soil properties (extractable zinc, silt, SOM, CEC, available phosphorus, total porosity, pH, and clay). These soil properties were subjected to forward stepwise discriminant analysis (STEPDA), and the result showed that four soil properties (extractable zinc; cation exchange capacity; soil organic matter and clay) have the highest power to separate the studied soils into YCP, MCP and SCP. In this way, we hope to have controlled sufficiently for redundancy in the final selection of soil degradation indicators. Based on these four soil parameters, CSDI was developed and used to classify selected cocoa soils into three (3) different classes of degradation. The results revealed that 65 % of the selected cocoa farms are moderately degraded, while 18 % have a high degradation status. Finally, the value of the CSDI as an objective index of soil degradation under cocoa agroforests was statistically validated.


F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bence Mátyás ◽  
Maritza Elizabeth Chiluisa Andrade ◽  
Nora Carmen Yandun Chida ◽  
Carina Maribel Taipe Velasco ◽  
Denisse Estefania Gavilanes Morales ◽  
...  

Soil management has great potential to affect soil respiration. In this study, we investigated the effects of organic versus conventional soil management on soil respiration.  We measured the main soil physical-chemical properties from conventional and organic managed soil in Ecuador. Soil respiration was determined using alkaline absorption according to Witkamp.  Soil properties such as organic matter, nitrogen, and humidity, were comparable between conventional and organic soils in the present study, and in a further analysis there was no statically significant correlation with soil respiration. Therefore, even though organic farmers tend to apply more organic material to their fields, but this did not result in a significantly higher CO2 production in their soils in the present study.


Author(s):  
Steven J. Deverel ◽  
Sabina Dore ◽  
Curtis Schmutte

Abstract. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is at the heart of California's water supply system that provides water for irrigation and human consumption. It is also home to subsiding organic soils, decreasing native aquatic species populations, water quality degradation, vulnerable levees (levees are equivalent to dikes) and decreasing agricultural viability. There has been substantial progress in the interdisciplinary understanding and quantification of the nature and effects of subsidence and its mitigation. Because of the need for a drained rootzone, farming of crops such as vegetables, trees, vines, corn and alfalfa, results in an ongoing unsustainable cycle of continuing peat oxidation and deepening of drainage ditches to compensate for elevation loss. Despite substantial evidence for the increasing risks to the State's economy and water supply, the unsustainability of the status quo, and evidence for the benefits of alternatives, there has been limited progress in converting to land uses that can reduce, stop and reverse subsidence. Our overall approach has been to measure land-surface elevation changes; understand, quantify and model subsidence and greenhouse gas emissions from drained organic soil, and evaluate alternate land uses. Subsidence rates vary from less than 0.5 to over 2 cm yr−1, depending primarily on depth to groundwater and soil organic matter content. The primary cause of subsidence is the oxidation of organic matter, which has resulted in elevations of −3 to −9 m on about 100 000 ha. Using the results from micrometeorological measurements and modelling, we estimate that organic-matter oxidation causes an annual emission of over 2×106 t of CO2-equivalent which represents about 21 % of the State's plant-based agricultural emissions. Rewetting of the peat soils is emerging as a viable solution. Rice and wetlands stop and (in the case of wetlands) reverse the effects of subsidence and result in a net greenhouse-gas emission reduction benefit. Wetlands accrete about 3 cm of soil per year, can break the unsustainable subsidence/drainage cycle, reverse the trajectory of increasing hydraulic pressures on levees, reduce the probability of levee failure and seepage onto islands (islands are equivalent to polders), and may provide material for biofuels and animal feed. The recent implementation of a methodology for quantification of the GHG benefit is facilitating land use conversion and participation in the carbon market.


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