Effect of wheat (Triticum aestivum) roots on mineralization rates of soil organic matter

Summary

Two different soils were amended with ¹⁴C-labelled plant material and incubated under controlled laboratory conditions for 2 years. Half the samples were cropped with wheat (Triticum aestivum) 10 times in succession. At flowering, the wheat was harvested and the roots removed from the soil, and a new crop was started. Thus, the soil was continuously occupied by predominantly active root systems. The remaining samples were maintained without plants under the same conditions. The aim of the experiment was to study the effects of active roots on C-mineralization rates during different stages of decomposition and during long-term incubation. During the first 200 days, corresponding to the active decomposition stages, the roots weakly reduced ¹⁴C mineralization. With a lower level of decomposition, when more than 60% of the initial 14C was mineralized and when the available nutrients were markedly exhausted by plant uptake, the roots stimulated 14C mineralization.[/ p]