Characterizing organic matter of soil aggregate coatings and biopores by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

In some soils, aggregate coatings and walls of biopores differ in the content of clay and organic carbon from that of the aggregate interiors or the soil matrix. The composition of the organic matter on aggregates and on the surfaces of biopores is largely unknown. We have compared the composition of organic matter between inner and outer parts of aggregates and between biopore walls and the soil matrix in a loamy arable soil and a sandy forest one. Hot‐water‐ and sodium‐pyrophosphate‐extractable organic matter was analysed by Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy. For the sandy forest soil, the FT‐IR spectra showed that organic matter from the walls of root channels contains fewer functional groups with absorption bands at 1740–1710 cm^?1 and 1640–1600 cm^?1 than that from burrow fillings. For the arable soil, the content of these functional groups in hot‐water‐soluble organic matter from the coatings is less than in that from the interiors in the topsoil, and the reverse is so in the subsoil, probably because water‐soluble organic matter containing these functional groups has moved from topsoil to subsoil. The results indicate that root channels in the forest soil have more reactive zones in an otherwise relatively inert sandy matrix, whereas aggregate coatings in the arable subsoil have a greater cation exchange capacity and a greater sorption potential for hydrophobic substances than the aggregate interiors.