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Microbial decomposition of organic matter and wetting–drying promotes aggregation in artificial soil but porosity increases only in wet-dry condition

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Rabbi, S. M.F., Warren, C. R., Swarbrick, B., Minasny, B., McBratney, A. B. and Young, I. M. (2024) Microbial decomposition of organic matter and wetting–drying promotes aggregation in artificial soil but porosity increases only in wet-dry condition. Geoderma, 447 . p. 116924. ISSN 0016-7061

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Article Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116924

Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706124001538

Abstract

Aggregation is one of the key properties influencing the function of soils, including the soil’s potential to stabilise organic carbon and create habitats for micro-organisms. The mechanisms by which organic matter influences aggregation and alters the pore geometry remain largely unknown. We hypothesised that rapid microbial processing of organic matter and wetting and drying of soil promotes aggregation and changes in pore geometry. Using microcosms of silicate clays and sand with either rapidly decomposable glucose or slowly decomposable cellulose, the degree of aggregation (P < 0.001), was greater in glucose treatments than controls that did not receive added carbon or microbial inoculum. We link this to microbial activity through measurements in soil respiration, phospholipids and microbially derived carbon. Our results demonstrate that rapid microbial decomposition of organic matter and microbially derived carbon promote aggregation and the aggregation process was particularly strong in the wet-dry condition (alternating between 30 % and 15 % water content) with significant modification of porosity (P < 0.05) of the aggregates.

Item Type:Article
Corporate Creators:Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland
Business groups:Animal Science
Keywords:Soil respiration Microbially derived carbon Phospholipid fatty acid Porosity Metabolites Tomography
Live Archive:02 Jul 2024 02:12
Last Modified:31 Jul 2024 05:37

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