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Water-soluble carbon in roots of rape and barley: impacts on labile soil organic carbon, arylsulphatase activity and sulphur mineralization

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Abstract

Investigating the impact of plant species on sulphur (S) availability in the rhizosphere soil is agronomically important to optimize S fertilization. Bulk, rhizosphere soils and the roots of field-grown rape and barley were sampled 7 times (every fortnight), from March to June, at plant maturity. Root carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in water extract, along with soil SO 2−4 -S, labile soil organic-C (HWC) and -N (HWN) in hot water extract, as well as soil arylsulphatase activity were then monitored. The average concentrations of both HWC and HWN were observed in the following decreasing order: rape rhizosphere soil >barley rhizosphere soil >bulk soil. In parallel, the average contents of water extractable-C and -N in rape roots were higher than those in barley roots. These results suggest that soil C and N contents in hot water extract (including rhizodeposition) were correlated with C and N released by roots. Great ARS activities found in rape rhizosphere soil were accompanied by great SO 2−4 -S mineralization over time. Finally, bulk and rhizosphere soils of rape and barley were pooled from the seven samplings and incubated with the corresponding pooled root water-soluble C of both plant species and glucose-C. After 1 and 9 weeks, a greater net S mineralization (gross mineralization - immobilization) was observed with rape root water-soluble C than with barley root water-soluble C and glucose-C. Conjointly, we found a higher average value of ARS activity in rape rhizosphere than in barley rhizosphere soil. Our findings suggest that plant species, via their rhizodeposition, determine the dynamic of S in soil.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Patrice Marchal for carbon and nitrogen determinations. The kind permission of Guy Delaire for collecting plants and soil samples from his field is gratefully acknowledged. This work was funded in part by the Regional Council of Lorraine.

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  1. UMR INPL (ENSAIA)-INRA Agronomie et Environnement Nancy-Colmar, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, 54505, France

    Phuy-Chhoy Vong, Séverine Piutti, Emile Benizri, Sophie Slezack-Deschaumes, Christophe Robin & Armand Guckert

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  1. Phuy-Chhoy Vong
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  2. Séverine Piutti
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  3. Emile Benizri
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  4. Sophie Slezack-Deschaumes
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  5. Christophe Robin
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Correspondence to Phuy-Chhoy Vong.

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Vong, PC., Piutti, S., Benizri, E. et al. Water-soluble carbon in roots of rape and barley: impacts on labile soil organic carbon, arylsulphatase activity and sulphur mineralization. Plant Soil 294, 19–29 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9201-0

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