Comparison of the particulate organic carbon and permanganate oxidation methods for estimating labile soil organic carbon
J. O. Skjemstad A C , R. S. Swift B and J. A. McGowan AA CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia.
B Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: jan.skjemstad@csiro.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 44(3) 255-263 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR05124
Submitted: 2 September 2005 Accepted: 13 February 2006 Published: 5 May 2006
Abstract
Forty-four soils from under native vegetation and a range of management practices following clearing were analysed for ‘labile’ organic carbon (OC) using both the particulate organic carbon (POC) and the 333 mm KmnO4 (MnoxC) methods. Although there was some correlation between the 2 methods, the POC method was more sensitive by about a factor of 2 to rapid loss in OC as a result of management or land-use change. Unlike the POC method, the MnoxC method was insensitive to rapid gains in TOC following establishment of pasture on degraded soil. The MnoxC method was shown to be particularly sensitive to the presence of lignin or lignin-like compounds and therefore is likely to be very sensitive to the nature of the vegetation present at or near the time of sampling and explains the insensitivity of this method to OC gain under pasture. The presence of charcoal is an issue with both techniques, but whereas the charcoal contribution to the POC fraction can be assessed, the MnoxC method cannot distinguish between charcoal and most biomolecules found in soil. Because of these limitations, the MnoxC method should not be applied indiscriminately across different soil types and management practices.
Additional keywords: labile C, permanganate, POM, POC.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thanks Ms. Athina Massis and Ms. Sonya Grocke for technical assistance. Thanks are also due to Dr Bruce Cowie for providing the soil samples from Brigalow Research Station.
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