ALBERT

Description: It is widely accepted that soil water repellency (SWR) is mainly caused by plant-derived hydrophobic organic compounds in soils; such hydrophobic compounds are defined as SWR-markers. However, the detailed influence of SWR-markers on SWR is yet unclear and the knowledge of their original sources is still limited. The aims of this study are to select important SWR-markers to predict SWR based on their correlation with SWR and to determine their origin. In our study, sandy soils with different SWR were collected, along with their covering vegetation, i.e. plant leaves/needles and roots. A sequential extraction procedure was applied to the soils to obtain three organic fractions: DCM / MeOH soluble fraction (D), DCM / MeOH insoluble fraction of IPA / NH3 extract (AI) and DCM / MeOH soluble fraction of IPA / NH3 extract (AS), which were subdivided into ten dominant SWR-marker groups: (D) fatty acid, (D) alcohol, (D) alkane, (AI) fatty acid, (AI) alcohol, (AI) ω-hydroxy fatty acid, (AI) α, ω-dicarboxylic acid, (AS) fatty acid, (AS) alcohol and (AS) ω-hydroxy fatty acid. Waxes and biopolyesters of the vegetation were also sequentially extracted from plants. In short, the soils with higher SWR have significantly higher relative concentrations of (AS) alcohols. A number of indications suggest that (AS) alcohols are mainly derived from roots and most likely produced by microbial hydrolysis of biopolyesters/suberins. In addition, the strong correlation between the biomarkers of plant tissues and SWR-markers in soils suggests that it is more accurate to predict SWR of topsoils using ester-bound alcohols from roots, and to predict SWR of subsoils using root-derived ω-hydroxy fatty acids and α, ω-dicarboxylic acids. Our analysis indicates that plant roots have a primary role influencing SWR relative to plant leaves.