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Mineralization of Carbon and Nitrogen from Freeze- and Oven-Dried Plant Material Added to Soil

Dep. of Soil Science, 106 Newell Hall, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Drying organic material before soil incorporation is a common procedure used in mineralization or decomposition studies. A laboratory study was conducted to determine the effect of drying methods on plant C and N and associated mineralization patterns in soil. Freeze- and oven-dried water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes [Mart] Solms) was added to a Kendrick soil (loamy, siliceous, hyperthermic Arenic Paleudults) at a rate of 5 g kg^–1 and incubated in the dark at 27 °C for 90 d. Oven drying in paper bags significantly increased the lignin content and decreased the mineral content of the plant material compared to freeze drying. The total C and N was not significantly different for the two materials. The mineralization of C from freeze-dried plant material was more rapid during the initial stage of decomposition and remained significantly higher throughout the incubation. At 90 d, 50 and 41% of the plant C had evolved as CO₂ for the freeze- and oven-dried plant material, respectively. Mineralization of ¹⁵N from the plant material accounted for 33% of the applied N of the freeze-dried material and 23% of the applied N of the oven-dried material. Nitrogen mineralization and CO₂ evolution were linearly correlated (r = 0.998) for the oven-dried plant material, but less correlated (r = 0.770) for the freeze-dried material.

Contribution from the Inst. of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Univ. of Florida. Florida Agric. Exp. Stn. Journal Series no. 9004.

Received for publication December 7, 1987.

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