Applicability of arginine ammonification as indicator of microbial activity in different soils

Summary Amendment of soils with arginine resulted in immediate liberation of ammonia. The rate was linear for several hours, and was strongly reduced by toluene treatment or under anaerobic conditions. Together with a strong stimulation of respiration by arginine these results demonstrate that arginine ammonification is due to living microorganisms. Arginine ammonification was strongly related to respiration and correlated significantly with the carbon content of the soil, but not or only poorly with soil pH, ammonia content, percentage clay or the number of microorganisms.