Studies on the decomposition of plant material in soil .I. Losses of carbon from 14C labelled ryegrass incubated with soil in the field

A new method for determining I4C in soil is described.

Ryegrass roots and tops uniformly labelled with 14C were allowed to decompose for 4 years in soil under field conditions. About one‐third of the labelled (ryegrass) C was left in the soil after 6 months but thereafter decomposition was much slower, about one fifth of the labelled C remaining after 4 years. Throughout the period, labelled C was less resistant to decomposition than unlabelled C, i.e. the C present in the soil before the labelled ryegrass was added. Even in the fourth year after addition of the ryegrass, the percentage of labelled C in the soil decomposing per year was four times that of unlabelled C.

Initially, ryegrass tops decomposed more quickly than roots but after I year the differences disappeared and the same amount of residual C remained from each. For periods of I year and over, the percentage of labelled C retained in a soil with 2.4 per cent organic C was the same as in a soil containing 1 per cent organic C. The percentage C retained was the same when either 0.3 per cent ryegrass tops or 0.6 per cent ryegrass tops were added to the soil. Similar amounts of labelled plant C were retained in soils incubated for 1 year in two contrasting seasons (1959 and 1962).