Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T18:47:02.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence of microorganisms upon the carbon-nitrogen ratio in the soil1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

Selman A. Waksman
Selman A. Waksman
Affiliation:
N. J. Agricultural Experiment Stations, New Brunswick, N. J.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Various investigations on the decomposition of organic matter in the soil have brought out the fact that there exists a more or less constant ratio between the carbon and nitrogen content of the soil, whatever the ratio between these elements in the organic matter originally added to the soil. This ratio varies from 8: 1 to 12: 1, i.e. for every 8 to 12 parts of carbon, there exists in the soil one part of nitrogen; the average ratio is about 10 to 1. Brown and O'Neal (1923), for example, found that the ratio of the carbon to the nitrogen in a Carrington loam is 12: 1 to 13: 1, while, in the case of a Tama silt loam, the ratio may go down to 10: 1. According to Sievers (1923), the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the soil is about 11·6: 1. Russell (1923) stated that, although there is about 40 times as much carbon as nitrogen in the original plant residues, the ratio will drop down to 10 to 1, before these residues have been very long in the soil. This ratio seemed to be in a stable position, for which no explanation could be suggested. Fraps (1922) found the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the surface soil to be 9·2: 1 and in the subsoil 8·3: 1; he suggested, therefore, to judge the percentage of organic carbon in the soil from the percentage of nitrogen present.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , October 1924 , pp. 555 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1924

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Brown, P. E., and O'Neal, A. M. (1923). “The color of soils in relation to organic matter content.” Res. Bul. 75, Iowa Agr. Exp. Sta.Google Scholar
Fraps, G. S. (1922). “Organic constituents of the soil.” Bul. 300, Texas Agr. Exp. Sta.Google Scholar
Hiltner, L. (1908). “Über neuere Ergebnisse und Probleme auf dem Gebiete der landwirtschaftlichen Bakteriologie.” Jahresb. Ver. angew. Bot. for 1907, 5, 200–222.Google Scholar
Kelley, W. P. (1915). “The biochemical decomposition of nitrogenous substances in soils.” Bul. 39, Hawaii Agr. Exp. Sta.Google Scholar
Kruse, W. (1910). Allgemeine Mikrobiologie. Vogel, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Lyon, T. L., Bizzell, J. A. and Wilson, B. D. (1923). “Depressive influence of certain higher plants on the accumulation of nitrates in the soil.” Journ. Amer. Soc. Agr. 15, 457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahn, O. (1919). “Die schädliche Wirkung der Strohdüngung und deren Verhütung.” Ztschr. techn. Biol. 7, 172–186.Google Scholar
Russell, E. J. and associates (1923). The microorganisms of the soil. Longmans, Green & Co., London and New York, p. 172.Google Scholar
Sievers, F. J. (1923). “The maintenance of organic matter in soils.” Science, N.S. 58, 78–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waksman, S. A. and Starkey, R. L. (1923). “Partial sterilization of soil, microbiological activities and soil fertility.” Soil Sci. 16, 137, 247, 343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar