Oxygen inhibition of acetylene reduction (nitrogen fixation) in soil: Effect of glucose and oxygen concentrations

Sandy loam soil was amended with different concentrations of glucose and was incubated at different pO₂ levels. Under many conditions of incubation time and treatment, N₂ ase activity as determined by 1-h aerobic C₂H₂ reduction assay (flushed with Ar:O₂, 4:1 before assay) was significantly less than that determined by means of ambient assay (carried out at the pO₂ of incubation without flushing with Ar:O₂, 4:1 before assay). The difference between the N₂ase activity in aerobic assay and that in ambient assay increased with decreasing glucose and O₂ concentrations imposed during incubation. The inhition in aerobic assays was analogous to O₂-induced shut-off of N₂ase and amounted to 75 per cent inhibition after incubation at 0.06 atm pO₂ of samples amended with 0.75% glucose (w/w). Similar O₂ inhibition was observed after amendment with mannitol and with lactate. Times of incubation were chosen such that development of anaerobic N₂ase activity was either absent or too low to account for the observed effects of O₂ during assay. It was shown that 0.05 atm pC₂H₂ was adequate for routine 1-h assays of the soil system employed. Individual soil samples could be subjected to repeated 1-h assays (with removal of C₂H₂ and C₂H₄ by evacuation after each assay) thus avoiding side-effects of long exposure to C₂H₂.     

The location and distribution in soil of rhizobia under senesced annual legume pastures

Soil cores from under senesced legume swards were partitioned into (1) soils, (2) legume roots, (3) nodules and (4) debris. The viable population of Rhizobium trifolii under subterranean clover was found to be predominantly in the nodule fraction; but with R. lupini under Serradella the distribution was more even. In commercially sown stands the rhizobia often failed to migrate from the original sown rows into the soil between the rows. The relative importance of the various fractions as contributors to the “pool” of rhizobia available for nodulation of subsequent generations of host-plants is discussed.     

Effect of ground water high in Mg on cation exchange of Na-illite in the presence of CaCO3

Ground waters with electrical conductivity of 4.9–7.4 mmhos/cm, a pH of 7.7–8.8 and a Mg/Ca ratio of 0.8–41.5 were equilibrated with a Na-illite in the presence and absence of CaCO₃. In the presence of CaCO₃, exchangeable Ca, exchangeable $\text{Ca+Mg}$ and the exchangeable Ca/Mg of the equilibrated clay increased but exchangeable Mg and Na decreased. The pH values of the ground waters were positively correlated with (1) exchangeable Ca, (2) exchangeable $\text{Ca+Mg}$, and (3) exchangeable Ca/Mg ratio, both in the presence and absence of CaCO₃.