TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of soil compost load on water-extractable organic matter content and its UV- and fluorescence-based compositional characteristics
AU - Rotbart, Nativ
AU - Oren, Adi
AU - Guetta, Yotam
AU - Medina, Shlomit
AU - Laor, Yael
AU - Raviv, Michael
AU - Yermiyahu, Uri
AU - Borisover, Mikhail
AU - Rinot, Oshri
AU - Braude, Elan
AU - Bar-Tal, Asher
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Soil Science Society of America Journal © 2025 Soil Science Society of America.
PY - 2025/1/1
Y1 - 2025/1/1
N2 - The application of compost increases soil organic matter (SOM) content; however, there is a lack of information on the short- and long-term effects of compost application on the dynamics of labile SOM pools in compost-amended soils in semiarid region. The goal of this study is to distinguish between parameters that can be used for investigating the accumulative effects of compost application and parameters that are sensitive for short-term changes but diminish with time. To address this goal, we focused on (1) the effects of compost application rates on short-term dynamics of soil contents of microbial biomass carbon (MBC), cold water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC), and hot water-extractable organic carbon (HWEOC), respectively, and (2) composition of WEOC and HWEOC characterized using (i) absorbance at 254 nm (Abs254) representing the presence of aromatic components and (ii) fluorescence spectroscopy of excitation–emission matrices coupled with parallel factor analysis. Soil samples were taken from a long-term field experiment in semiarid region, which investigated the effects of the annual load of a cattle manure-based compost (at rates of 0, 20, 40, or 60 m3 ha−1 year−1) on soil properties and crop performance. C concentrations in soil water extracts were found to be sensitive indicators of compost-load effect on soil organic carbon content. Compost dose had a strong short-term (2 weeks) impact on MBC, but no long-term (over months and years) effect was observed. Of the variables examined in the short term, the MBC, WEOC, and Abs254 values of the extracts were found to be the most responsive to compost load. The proportion of the fluorescent constituents out of the WEOC and HWEOC decreased with compost dose. UV- and fluorescence-spectroscopy were found to be useful means to characterize the influence of compost load on the composition of water-extractable organic matter and hot water-extractable organic matter in semiarid region.
AB - The application of compost increases soil organic matter (SOM) content; however, there is a lack of information on the short- and long-term effects of compost application on the dynamics of labile SOM pools in compost-amended soils in semiarid region. The goal of this study is to distinguish between parameters that can be used for investigating the accumulative effects of compost application and parameters that are sensitive for short-term changes but diminish with time. To address this goal, we focused on (1) the effects of compost application rates on short-term dynamics of soil contents of microbial biomass carbon (MBC), cold water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC), and hot water-extractable organic carbon (HWEOC), respectively, and (2) composition of WEOC and HWEOC characterized using (i) absorbance at 254 nm (Abs254) representing the presence of aromatic components and (ii) fluorescence spectroscopy of excitation–emission matrices coupled with parallel factor analysis. Soil samples were taken from a long-term field experiment in semiarid region, which investigated the effects of the annual load of a cattle manure-based compost (at rates of 0, 20, 40, or 60 m3 ha−1 year−1) on soil properties and crop performance. C concentrations in soil water extracts were found to be sensitive indicators of compost-load effect on soil organic carbon content. Compost dose had a strong short-term (2 weeks) impact on MBC, but no long-term (over months and years) effect was observed. Of the variables examined in the short term, the MBC, WEOC, and Abs254 values of the extracts were found to be the most responsive to compost load. The proportion of the fluorescent constituents out of the WEOC and HWEOC decreased with compost dose. UV- and fluorescence-spectroscopy were found to be useful means to characterize the influence of compost load on the composition of water-extractable organic matter and hot water-extractable organic matter in semiarid region.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85215503946&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/saj2.70014
DO - 10.1002/saj2.70014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85215503946
SN - 0361-5995
VL - 89
JO - Soil Science Society of America Journal
JF - Soil Science Society of America Journal
IS - 1
M1 - e70014
ER -