Influence of sea salts on the soil metabolism

Abstract

Microbial metabolism in reduction process of waterlogged paddy soils has been studied by Takai, Koyama, and Kamura (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Koyama (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12), and others. The results indicated that microbial metabolism in waterlogged soils takes place according to the following steps: (1) In the early stage of the incubation period, dissolved O₂, is consumed and the redox potential drops rapidly. (2) NO₂? and NO₂? are reduced to N₂. (3) Mn⁴⁺ is reduced to Mn²⁺. (4) Fe³⁺ is reduced to Fe²⁺. (5) SO₄ ²? is reduced to S^2?. (6) H₂ and CH₄ are produced. Takai and Chiang (13) reported that NH₄₊ and PO₄ ³⁺ in waterlogged paddy soils increase with the incubation period. Chiang and Takai (14) indicated that carbohydrates in the soil solutions almost remain constant throughout the incubation period, however, organic acids change similarly to those reported previously (5, 6).     

Method of extracting organic acid from flooded soil

Investigations on the extraction and determination of organic acids in flooded soil have been reported by TAKAI (1) and TAKIJIMA (2). TAKAI applied water to extract acids from soil and determined them by BULLEN's method (3). However, TAKIJIMA reported that organic acid could not be completely extracted by TAKAI's procedure, especially in soil with a high organic matter content such as muck and peaty soils, and proposed an extraction procedure with 0.5 N sulfuric acid. He also discussed the absorption of acids by soil.     

Study of Pedo Genesis of soils of Bundi district (Rajasthan)

The soils of Rajasthan vary from desert sand to heavy clay with all intermediate stages like sandy loam, loam and clay loam. The last two textural groups are more prevalant on the eastern, northeastern and southeastern part of the Aravallies which run almost in the middle of the State from southeast to northeast. The latter groups of soils have more potential from the point of agricultural development in the State. These soils are widely termed as alluvial soils which is a general term to indicate the nontaxonomic group of soils that have parent material of alluvial origin, Riecken ¹⁷, Kelloog ⁸ has referred to the soils developed from the alluvium as classified under variety of world soil groups. In our country many of the alluvial soils have not yet been studied from the soil genesis point of view as a measure to classify the soils under taxonomic groups. Ray Chawdhary and Mukerji ¹⁵, concluded that the alluvial soil groups of our country are ill defined and the classification of these soils need more study. Basu ³ was able to distinguish the genetic characteristics of the soils of Deccan. Agrawal and Mukherji ¹⁾ established that distinct genetic soil types have come into expression under Gangetic alluvium. Agarwal ² has concluded about the three types of soils in the toposequence with precipitated calcium throughout, zone of calcium accumulation in the bottom of the profile and soils free of calcium, and suggests that the soils of Gangetic plain be called as derived from alluvium. A process of reclassifying the alluvial soil series into taxonomic groups is a common trend in the United States since the last two decades.     

Fractionation of foliar absorbed phosphorus by paper electro-phoresis

Fractional analysis of phosphorus compounds in plant tissue has been carried out by many workers, and reported on tobacco plant by Holden (1) and Komatsu (2). The fractional distribution of foliar absorbed phosphorus was investigated by Yatazawa (3) who indicated that the phosphorus was first converted into the phosphate-ester as an intermediate substance on the phosphorus metabolism. The methods of fractional analysis used by these authors were based on the method proposed by Page and Umbereit (4) in which they used trichloroacetic acid as the first extracting reagent. Recently, in order to separate the protein bound phosphorus, Wildmann, Campell and Bonner (5) adopted the salting-out method without using trichloroacetic acid. They reported that the protein-bound phosphorus plays an important role and is in the dynamic state. Fujiwara and Kadowaki (6) paid attention to the phosphorus bound to cytoplasmic protein as energy-rich phosphate compounds, and adopted the method so as to separate such compounds. In order to reveal the utilization of foliar absorbed phosphorus by the tobacco plant, the fractional distribution of phosphorus was examined. In this paper, the degree of change to organic phosphorus was taken as an index of phosphorus utilization. Paper electrophoresis was used for this purpose because the inorganic and the protein-bound phosphorus could be separated easily.     

Adsorption strength of zinc for soil humus

Soil humus plays a significant role in the cation exchange of a soil. YOSHIDA (1) showed that, as a general rule, divalent ions such as calcium and magnesium were adsorbed more strongly onto humus than monovalent ions such as ammonium and potassium in an ion-exchange reaction. He did not, however, describe the behavior of heavy metal ions. BREMNER et al. (2) first suggested that soil organic matter forms complexes with polyvalent cations. HIMES and BARBER (3) found that soil organic matter reacts with divalent metal ions in a manner similar to the chelation reaction. Reviews of the soil organic matter-metal complex have been written by BREMNER et al. (2) and KAWAGUCHI, MATSUO and KYUMA (4).     

Vermiculite-Type Clay Minerals in Some “Kuroboku” Soils Distributed in Mie Prefecture of West Japan

In the past several years, the occurrence of vermiculite-type clay minerals and the problem of the formation of Al-interlayers have attracted the intensive attention of soil clay mineralogists. A number of papers have appeared in Japan, in Which the identification data of the vermiculite-type minerals with stable 14 Å spacing were given. (Matsui 1959, 1960; Kanno 1961b, Kato 1961, 1962a, 1962b; Egawa 1963).     

Suitability of extractant for soil available silicon and silicon response to upland paddy grown on alkaline soils of central India

Abstract

Several silicon (Si) extractants are being employed in different countries mostly for lowland acidic soils. Present investigation was conducted to evaluate suitable extractants for upland paddy grown on alkaline soils. Available Si was extracted by using ten different extractants. Tris buffer pH 7.0 (1:10) in Inceptisols showed positively highest and significant correlation with grain yield (r?=?0.870), grain Si uptake (r?=?0.887), straw yield (r?=?0.852), and straw Si uptake (r?=?0.919). However, 0.5?M acetic acid (1:2.5) in Vertisols showed positively highest and significant correlation with grain yield (r?=?0.810), grain Si uptake (r?=?0.852), straw yield (r?=?0.850), and straw Si uptake (r?=?0.929). The application of Si @ 200?kg ha^?1 along with chemical fertilizers significantly increased yield and nutrient uptake of upland paddy on Vertisols. Tris buffer pH 7.0 (1:10) and 0.5?M acetic acid (1:2.5) were suitable extractant for Inceptisols and Vertisols, respectively based on its correlation with yield and nutrient uptake.     

Effect of phosphorus deficiency and seasonal variations on growth and essential oil content of Japanese mint(M. Arvensis L. Var. Piperascens)

In a previous communication from this laboratory it has been indicated that mint plants respond typically to different environmental conditions (day length and temperature) by marked alterations in growth, and synthesis of essential oil (SINGH and SINGH, 1968a (1)). Similar work on M. piperita L. carried out by several workers clearly shows that the mineral nutrition and metabolism of this plant are equally affected by environmental changes (CRANE and STEWARD, 1962 (2) ; RABSON, 1965 (3) ; STEWARD et al. 1959 (4)), and the metabolic consequences which flow from deficiencies of nutrient elements are greatly influenced by these factors, e. g., lack of phosphorus under short days is accompanied by greater accumulation of amides than under long days and, therefore, causes decrease in other soluble constituents, viz. amino acids (CRANE and STEWARD, 1962).     

Influence of organic malter content and plant root on the leaching of cations from paddy soils

On the productivity of paddy field, many investigations have been performed in Japan. These investigations were mainly focused on the importance of mineralization of soil organic nitrogen, redox system, and generation of injurious materials under water-logged conditions of soils. Recently HARADA (1) and YOSHIDA (2) showed that the cations adsorbed by negative charges originated from humic substances were more weaker than that of the clay. Moreover KONISHI (3) has investigated on the effects of Renge application upon the soil productivity and the leaching of nutrients. He proved that the applicatign of Renge upon soil accelerates the nutrient leaching. From these experiments the importance of nutrient leaching in the soil productivity was again closed up.     

Evaluation of readily available nonexchangeable potassium in soil by sequential extractions with 0.01 molar hydrochloric acid

Nonexchangeable potassium (K-ne), i.e. 1 M NH₄OAc-nonexchangeable K, often contributes significantly to plant nutrition. However conventional extraction methods often extract much more K-ne than plants even after intensive cropping, suggesting the difficulty in evaluating the amount of readily available soil K-ne. In this study, we used a milder extraction method (0.01 M HCl method) to examine its applicability to evaluate the amount of readily available K-ne in soil. In the first experiment, the concentration of K-ne in twenty surface soils sampled from agricultural fields in Japan and K-bearing minerals was determined by the 0.01 M HCl method, i.e. sequential extraction with 0.01 M HCl over a period of 10 d after removal of exchangeable K, and by conventional methods. The average percentage of the soil K-ne extracted by the 0.01 M HCl method amounted to 0.66% of the total K amount, and was much lower than that by a single extraction with 1 M HNO₃ (2.0%) or with 0.2 M sodium tetraphenylboron for 2 d (22%). In the second experiment, the amount of K-ne removed by chemical extractions was compared with that of K-ne removed by maize plants grown for 29 d in five of the above soils. The amount of the K-ne evaluated by the 0.01 M HCl method gave the highest correlation (p < 0.05) with that of the K-ne utilized by plants among the extraction methods applied. The amount of soil K-ne extracted by the 0.01 M Hel method could therefore become a suitable index of the amount of readily available K-ne in soil. Extraction of K-ne in soils after maize planting further indicated that plants had removed K-ne more intensively than the 0.01 < HCl method probably only from the rhizosphere, although a high correlation was observed between the amount of K-ne removed by the 0.01 M Hel method and that by plants. This implies that the estimation of the amount of K-ne utilized by plants requires not only soil chemical analysis but also the evaluation of the percentage of the soil volume where the plant-induced release of K-ne actually occurs.     

Changes in cation exchange capacity of some Andosols with dithionite-citrate treatment

Andosol is a soil widely distributed throughout Japan and is one of the important soils for the agriculture. The name “Ando soil” was given by THORP and SMITH (19) which means dark soil with an organic matter content ranging up to 30 per cent in the darkest members of the group. In 1964, the Soil Correlation Meeting on Volcanic Ash Soils (8), organized by FAO, adopted “Andosol” for volcanic ash soil of which the active fraction is predominated by amorphous material. Andosol, moreover, has many special properties such as high sorption capacity, high accumulation of organic matter, low bulk density and low stickiness. TAYLOR (18), accordingly, named them “amorphic soils”. The latest soil classification system, 7th Approximation (15) includes andosol under the suborder andepts.     

Phosphate solubilising bacteria

Most reports of the studies on solubilisatioh of phosphate in liquid culture and soil suggested that organic acids produced by microorganisms are responsible for promoting the dissolution of phosphate. Sperber (11, 12), Louw and Webley (7) and Duff, Webley and Scott (2) studied the production of acids by cultures of some phosphate dissolving fungi. actinomycetes and bacteria and observed that among the acids produced in liquid medium, hydroxy carboxylic acids such as lactic and 2-ketogluconic acids were responsible for solubilisation of phosphates. In the present studies, apart from the culture of Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum isolated from phosphobacterin which had been obtained from USSR. Indian strains of Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus circulans and Escherichia freundii isolated and identified by Sundara Rao and Sinha (13) were used. These studies were undertaken to find out different types of nonvolatile acids produced in Pikovskaya's (9) liquid medium.     

Humus composition of mountain soils in Central Japan with special reference to the distribution of P type humic acid

The central districts of Japan are mountainous areas rising to 3,000 metres which are predominantly covered with forest vegetation. A comprehensive and systematic classification of the soils in this region has not yet been made, but the following soil types have been reported to occur: - 1. 1. Brown forest soils, podzolic soils, black soils and red soils. [Described by OHMASA (14)]

2. 2. Alpine grassland soils and alpine meadow soils. [Described by KUMADA et al. (9)]

3. 3. A series of randzina-like soils with a very restricted distribution. These are derived mainly from limestone and show various degrees of maturity. [Described by KUMADA et al. (8)]

4. 4. Red-yellow soils. These sometimes show a close resemblance to OHMASA's red soils and are found on diluvial plateaux and hills. [Described by KANNO (1)]

5. 5. Paddy soils.

     

Formulation of humic substances coated fertilizer and its use to enhance K fertilizer use efficiency for tomato under greenhouse conditions

A greenhouse experiment was conducted at Land Resources Research Institute, NARC, Islamabad to examine the impact of humic substances (HSs) coating on potassium fertilizers use efficiency. Tomato variety “Rio Grande” was used. The treatments applied were T1= Control (N, P at 250 and100?mg kg^?1 respectively), T2?=?N, P?+?K at 200?mg kg^?1 as SOP, T3?=?N, P?+?K at 200?mg kg^?1 as NPK blend, T4?=?N, P?+?K at 200?mg kg^?1 HSs coated SOP) and T5?=?N, P?+?K at 200?mg kg^?1 HSs coated NPK blend. Results indicated a positive impact of sole and HSs coated products on agronomic traits, nutrient concentration, fruit quality traits, flower number, fruit umber, fruit weight, chlorophyll contents, fresh and dry biomass, tissue water contents, diameter and fruit mineral composition. The response of afore said traits to applied treatment varied.     

Occurrence of laminar opaline silica in some Oregon Andosols

Laminar opaline silica was first found in the 0.2 to 5 μ fraction and most abundant in the 0.4 to 2 μ fractions of young Japanese Andosols by Shoji and Masui (1969a, b). It was noted that the A horizon of a profile tends to be relatively rich in opaline silica whereas the B or C horizon, in allophane (Shoji and Masui, 1972a, b). They (I972a) distinguished four types of opaline silica particles such as circular, elliptical, rectangular, and rhombic, of which the circular and elliptical types predominate. It has been suggested that the formation of opaline silica is favored by a plentiful supply of soluble silica in the early weathering stage of Andosols, the supersaturation of silica by surface evaporation of soil solution, and the suppression of aluminum activity in the soil solution by the accumulation of soil organic matter (Shoji and Masui, 1972b; Wada and Harward, 1974). The purpose of the present short communication is to describe the occurrence of laminar opaline silica particles in some Oregon Andosols, U.S.A.     

On the complex formation between soil humus and polyvalent cations

In 1946 BREMNER et al.(1) suggested a theory that, in soils, polyvalent metals are combined with organic matter as metal-organic matter complexes, and that these complexes are insoluble in solvents that do not themselves form complexes with metals. The principle of one of the most prevailing methods for humus extraction, the neutral sodium pyrophosphate extraction proposed by BREMNER and LEES (2), is a corollary of the theory.     

Browning of pyrogallol as affected by clay minerals

One of the authors, Kumada(1), has presented the idea that humification must be regarded as browning phenomena of organic matter in soils. The browning reaction can be accelerated non-enzymatically as well as enzymatically, and it is considered that humification would be conducted under the influence of some catalytic actions of clay fraction, composed of various kinds of clay minerals, free oxides and electrolytes, as well as soil enzymes, under the prevailing hydrothermal conditions. This was well illustrated by Kyuma and Kawaguchi(2), who definitely demonstrated the catalytic effect of allophane on the oxidative polymerization of polyphenols.     

Fractionation of humic acid by organic solvents

TJURIN (1) had proposed the use of organic solvent to fractionate humus. In his method, he extracted soils with benzene-alcohol (1 : 1) mixture in the SOXHLET's apparatus. The extract was dried at 80°C and weighed.     

Formation of methyl mercaptan in paddy soils I

It is well known that methyl mercaptan is porduced by the microbiological decomposition of methionine1),2),3). According to Kondo ⁴⁾ and Onitake ¹⁾not only hydrogen sulfide, but also methyl mercaptan were produced from cystine by E. coli and Proteus vulgaris in the medium containing one of glucose, lactose, sucrose, glycerin or histidine. Moreover, Onitake ¹⁾ found that methyl mercaptan was produced by the action of E. coli in the medium containing hydrogen sulfide and a trace of ethyl alcohol, and that evolution of methyl mercaptan began only 5 minutes after the start of experiment in the medium containing methionine, but it began after 12hrs in the medium containing 1-cystine and glucose. According to Birkinshaw, Findlay and Webb⁵⁾ methyl mercaptan was found in the medium containing glucose, sulfate and other mineral salts, inoculated by Schizophyllum commune. In the same cultural condition as given above, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, and dimethyl disulfide were detected by Challenger and Chartons ⁵⁾ from the data presented above, in addition to microbiological formation of methyl mercaptan from methionine, the possibility cannot be excluded of methyl mercaptan formation by microbes from cystine, sulfate or hydrogen sulfide in the medium containing one of organic compounds such as sugars, glycerin, histidine and ethyl alcohol, etc.     

Hydrogen peroxide treatment on typical Hokkaido soils

G. W. ROBISON et al. (1) introduced a method of H²O² treatment for study of humification based on the fact that the humus substances in soils are perfectly destroyed under the treatment of H²O². W. O. ROBINSON (2) used 15% H²O² for the determination of total organic matters.