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TECHNICAL REPORT
PLANT AND ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

The Relationship between Microbial Carbon and the Resource Quality of Soil Carbon

E.A. Webster^a, D.W. Hopkins^a, J.A. Chudek^b, S.F.I. Haslam^c, M. imek^d and T. Pîcek^d

^a Dep. of Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland UK
^b Dep. of Chemistry, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland UK
^c Dep. of Biological Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland UK
^d Institute of Soil Biology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Biological Faculty of the University of South Bohemia, Na sàdkàch 7, eské Budéjovice CZ 370 05, Czech Republic

Corresponding author (e.a.webster{at}stir.ac.uk)

Received for publication March 16, 2000. The biological health of soil is an important aspect of soil quality because of the many critical functions performed by organisms in soil. Various indicators of soil quality have been proposed, but measurements of microbial biomass are most commonly used. During decomposition of plant residues in soil the relative intensities of the O-alkyl-C signal decreases and the alkyl-C signal increases in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. This leads to the suggestion that the alkyl-C to O-alkyl-C ratio of a soil may indicate the degree of decomposition. Consequently, the overall resource quality of soil C as a substrate for heterotrophic microorganisms may be inversely related to the alkyl-C to O-alkyl-C ratio. Our hypothesis is that a relationship exists between the size of the soil microbial community (microbial biomass) and the quality of soil carbon as a resource for microorganisms. New data have been combined with previously published data to show that there was a significant, negative correlation between the biomass C to total C (C_mic to C_org) ratio and the alkyl-C to O-alkyl-C ratio (p < 0.01), which supports our hypothesis.

Abbreviations: C_mic, biomass carbon • C_org, total carbon • CP, cross polarization • MAS, magic angle spinning • NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance

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