Soil organic carbon fractionation for improving agricultural soil quality assessment – a case study in Southern Belgium (Wallonia)

The paper presents and discusses a method for fractionating bulk soil organic carbon (SOC) in meaningful SOC fractions to better assess SOC status and its related soil ecosystem functions. Objectives. The objective is to perform an evaluation of ecosystem functions of soil organic matter at plot scale and compare it to the normal operative range of the local agro-ecological region. Method. By separating carbon associated with clay and fine silt particles (stable carbon with slow turnover rate, < 20 μm) and carbon non-associated with this fraction (labile and intermediate carbon with higher... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Trigalet, Sylvain
Chartin, Caroline
Kruger, Inken
Carnol, Monique
Van Oost, Kristof
van Wesemael, Bas
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
Verlag/Hrsg.: Bibliothèque de la Faculté
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28552766
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/207863

The paper presents and discusses a method for fractionating bulk soil organic carbon (SOC) in meaningful SOC fractions to better assess SOC status and its related soil ecosystem functions. Objectives. The objective is to perform an evaluation of ecosystem functions of soil organic matter at plot scale and compare it to the normal operative range of the local agro-ecological region. Method. By separating carbon associated with clay and fine silt particles (stable carbon with slow turnover rate, < 20 μm) and carbon non-associated with this fraction (labile and intermediate carbon with higher turnover rates, ≥ 20 μm), effects of management can be detected more efficiently at different scales. Conclusions. Soil organic carbon fractions, used as proxies for soil ecosystem functions, can be helpful because they represent SOC functional pools. This paper proposes to apply fractionation on samples taken at plot and regional scale. It is therefore possible to establish a normal operative range for a specific agro-region for comparison with the values in individual plots. This allows drawing a baseline for SOC fractions status in a specific agricultural unit. This approach provides valuable information to study and evaluate the impact of agricultural management in the context of enhancing soil quality and functions.