Investigation on the physico-chemical properties of soil and mineralization of three selected tropical tree leaf litter

Thamizharasan A 1 , Rajaguru VRR 1 , Gajalakshmi S 2 , Lim JW 3 , Greff B 4 , Rajagopal R 5 Show all authors , Chang SW 6 , Ravindran B 7 , Awasthi MK 8

Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India
  • 2 Centre for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India. Electronic address: dr.s.gajalakshmi@gmail.com
  • 3 HICoE-Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Food Science, Albert Kázmér Faculty of Mosomagyaróvár, Széchenyi István University, Lucsony street 15-17, 9200 Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary
  • 5 Sherbrooke Research and Development Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2000 College Street, Sherbrooke, QC, J1M 1Z3, Canada
  • 6 Department of Environmental Energy and Engineering, Kyonggi University Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-Do, 16227, Republic of Korea
  • 7 Department of Medical Biotechnology and Integrative Physiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Thandalam, Chennai, 602105, Tamil Nadu, India; Department of Environmental Energy and Engineering, Kyonggi University Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-Do, 16227, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kalamravi@gmail.com
  • 8 College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, 712100, China. Electronic address: mukeshawasthi85@nwafu.edu.cn
Environ Res, 2024 Feb 15;243:117752.
PMID: 38008202 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117752

Abstract

Plant leaf litter has a major role in the structure and function of soil ecosystems as it is associated with nutrient release and cycling. The present study is aimed to understand how well the decomposing leaf litter kept soil organic carbon and nitrogen levels stable during an incubation experiment that was carried out in a lab setting under controlled conditions and the results were compared to those from a natural plantation. In natural site soil samples, Anacardium. occidentale showed a higher value of organic carbon at surface (1.14%) and subsurface (0.93%) and Azadirachta. indica exhibited a higher value of total nitrogen at surface (0.28%) and subsurface sample (0.14%). In the incubation experiment, Acacia auriculiformis had the highest organic carbon content initially (5.26%), whereas A. occidentale had the highest nitrogen level on 30th day (0.67%). The overall carbon-nitrogen ratio showed a varied tendency, which may be due to dynamic changes in the complex decomposition cycle. The higher rate of mass loss and decay was observed in A. indica leaf litter, the range of the decay constant is 1.26-2.22. The morphological and chemical changes of soil sample and the vermicast were substantained using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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