Senescent leaf decomposition in a Mediterranean pear orchard

Nutrient release during decomposition of leaf litter in a peach (Prunus persica L.) orchard

“…When analysing the decomposition rate for mass data using the decay constant, k, our data (0.0096) are in line with those reported for apple leaf litter (0.0118) in a study carried out in the same location , while more rapid decomposition was found for pear leaves in Mediterraneantype climatic conditions, probably because of a lower C/N ratio of abscised pear leaves (C/N = 28) reported by Neto et al (2009) as compared to the peach leaves in the present study (C/N = 36.5).…”

“…For fruit trees, the few available literature on sour cherry (Green et al 2006), pear (Neto et al 2009) and apple ) indicate carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratios from 20 to 32, depending also on the N fertilization regime. C:N ratio has been often negatively correlated to decomposition rate in the early stage of the process (Swift and Chaney 1979;Taylor et al 1989;Enriquez et al 1993;Cotrufo and Ineson 2000).…”

Non-additive effects vary with the number of component residues and their mixing proportions during residue mixture decomposition: A microcosm study

“…Residue N remaining was calculated by multiplying final residue mass by the total N concentration of final residue, and expressed as a percentage of initial N content. For the single plant residues, residue mass remaining was fitted with a negative exponential model (y = e −kt ) (Neto et al, 2009;Olson, 1963), and the decomposition constant rates (k) (day − 1 ) were determined.…”

Temporal dynamics of soil nitrogen, carbon and microbial activity in conservative and disturbed fields amended with mature white lupine and oat residues

“…On the other hand, the soluble lignin amounted for 16% of total lignin in lupine residue and only for 13% of total lignin in oat residue. Particularly this larger percent share of soluble lignin may induce an easier lupine mineralization in soil (Neto et al, 2008). Twinning (1984).…”