Biological Stability of Carbon and Nitrogen in Organic Products and Crop Residues using Fourier-Transform Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

Abstract

Lignin plus cutin (LIC) content and biological stability index (BSI) are well-recognized indexes of potentially recalcitrant carbon (C) in organic products, and C / nitrogen (N) and lignin/N ratios have been related to potentially mineralizable N (PMN).Our objective was to use Fourier-transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy to estimate PMN and BSI of plant residues, composts, and manures. We also evaluated FT-NIR for determining the C/N, LIC/N, and BSI/N ratios as indexes of N mineralization in selected organic products. We analyzed 148 organic products for biochemical composition and total C and N. A subset of 10 products was incubated in a sandy soil to determine PMN. The FT-NIR successfully determined lignin and cutin (LIC) and BSI from r 2 , the ratio of prediction to standard deviation, and the ratio error range criteria. The PMN was less closely related to the C/N ratio (r 2 = 0.64) than the BSI/N (r 2 = 0.84) and LIC/N (r 2 = 0.87) ratios. There was some N immobilization at an early stage of incubation when C/N, LIC/N, and BSI/N ratios exceeded 14, 10, and 15, respectively. There is a need to characterize a larger number of organic compounds in the soluble and LIC fractions to improve the BSI equation.

The Role of Compost in Bio-waste Management and Circular Economy

“…how much humus is mineralised in CO 2 ). Soil type did not affect significantly the mineralisation behaviour of M according to Noirot-Cosson et al [13], rather constant k 1 is specific for each M, and it is correlated to specific biological stability index (BSI, % w/w), calculated after a laboratory measurement of biochemical fractions [14], and OM, calculated as M without ashes content, by Eq. (2)…”

“…The amount of resistant SOM fraction was estimated according to Boiffin et al [15] or applying BSI [10,14] on cardoon above-ground residues: wheat 0.08, bean 0.1, and roots 0.15; above-ground cardoon was 0.18 experimentally estimated from compositional analysis. Even contribution of cardoon basal leaves and renewal of roots was calculated and computed in the model.…”

Roots contribute more to refractory soil organic matter than above-ground crop residues, as revealed by a long-term field experiment

“…For example, Linères and Djakovitch (1993) proposed that a Biological Stability Index (BSI) computed from lignin plus cutin, crude fiber, hemicellulose, and soluble fractions can be used as a proxy in the Hénin and Dupuis (1945) model. BSI has been used to characterize different organic materials including crop residues (e.g., Parent et al, 2010), but as any chemical proxy used to predict a biologically mediated process it has a limited generality.…”

Multivariate Tools for Evaluating the Use of Organic Fertilizers on Soil Microbial Properties and Maize Yield

“…PM has a low C:N ratio, as well as LSM, promoting the increase of microbial activity (Tremblay et al, 2010). Likewise, compared to solid manures and organic composts, LSM has higher capacity for immediate availability of nutrient to the soil (Scherer & Spagnollo, 2014).…”