Sp. Neale et al., CHANGES IN MICROBIAL BIOMASS AND NITROGEN TURNOVER IN ACIDIC ORGANIC SOILS FOLLOWING LIMING, Soil biology & biochemistry, 29(9-10), 1997, pp. 1463-1474
The effect of liming on microbial activity and N transformations was e
xamined in four very acidic, organic topsoils to help explain reports
of poor growth of conifers on some such soils. Data were obtained from
laboratory incubations and from a long-term field experiment. Liming
to a pH near 6.5 caused soil respiration and microbial biomass to at l
east double in the first 4 d, mainly due to the proliferation of indig
enous acid intolerant bacteria. Soil respiration then declined rapidly
but microbial biomass less so, and in two soils, biomass remained sig
nificantly greater than the control beyond 101 d. Liming caused an ini
tial increase in net N mineralization in all soils, but beyond 34 d, i
t became similar to or substantially less than the control. Nitrificat
ion in the limed soils increased rapidly at around 30 d. The greatest
reduction in N mineralization occurred in two soils with the greatest
C-to-N ratio. Immobilization of N in the microbial biomass could not a
ccount for the very small N mineralization rates observed in the long
term, but a relatively small increase in the N concentration of the st
ableresidual soil organic matter could. Small net N mineralization rat
es in limed organic soils with a large C-to-N ratio that could persist
for more than 10 y may cause N stress in single species stands of tre
es on plantation forest, but it is unlikely to decrease the growth of
vegetation in species-rich communities. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.