Journal article
Addition of base cations increases microbial carbon use efficiency and biomass in acidic soils
Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol.161, Article 108392
2021
Abstract
The leaching of base cations in acidic soils can result in calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) deficiencies, which are important for microbial cell function. We aimed to determine if microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were limited in acidic soils due to a lack of base cations. Microbial CUE across a range of agricultural soils (n = 970; pHCa 3.4–7.9) treated with either deionised H2O (control) or a solution of 300 mM CaCl2 + 300 mM MgCl2 (+Base cations) was determined using a14C radioisotope tracer approach. Our results showed that the addition of base cations significantly increased microbial CUE (by up to 20%) at pHCa < 4.7; which coincided with a steep increase in exchangeable acidity. Base cation addition significantly increased MBC in nil-limed soils (pHCa 4.6) from 494 mg C kg−1 to 769 mg C kg−1 when plant residue was added, but not in limed soils (pHCa 6.2). Our findings indicate that the addition of base cations to highly acidic soils can increase microbial growth, thus aiding with carbon sequestration in these agricultural soils.
Details
- Title
- Addition of base cations increases microbial carbon use efficiency and biomass in acidic soils
- Authors/Creators
- E.L. Horn (Author/Creator)E.C. Cooledge (Author/Creator)D.L. Jones (Author/Creator)F.C. Hoyle (Author/Creator)F.L. Brailsford (Author/Creator)D.V. Murphy (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol.161, Article 108392
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Identifiers
- 991005545187207891
- Copyright
- © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems; Food Futures Institute
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
207 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.45 Soil Science
- 3.45.112 Soil Carbon Dynamics
- Web Of Science research areas
- Soil Science
- ESI research areas
- Agricultural Sciences