Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

M. H. GERZABEK and H. RÖSSNER:

Response of soil aggregate stability to storage time of soil samples

Summary

The aim of the present study was toinvestigate the well known phenomenon of changing aggregate stability values as result of soil sample storage. In order to evaluate the impact of soil microbial activity, the soil sample was split into three subsamples. Two samples were sterilized by means of chloreform fumigation and gamma irradiation, respectively. However, the aggregate stability measurements at three different dates were not correlated with the microbial activity (dehydrogenase activity). The moisture content of the aggregate samples seems to be of higher significance. Samples with lower moisture content (range: 0.4 to 1.9 %) exhibited higher aggregate stabilities. Thus, air dried aggregate samples without further treatment don't seem to besuitable for standardized stability measurements. Key-words: microbial activity, sample storage, soil aggregatestability, soil moisture content.