Relation Between the Kinetics of Nitrogen Transformation and Biomass Distribution in a Soil Column During Continuous Leaching

Starr, J. L.; Parlange, J.-Y.

Relation Between the Kinetics of Nitrogen Transformation and Biomass Distribution in a Soil Column During Continuous Leaching

1976

Starr, J. L. | Parlange, J.-Y.

Nitrogen concentration profiles in soil columns with associated microbial distributions have been used in the past to deduce the kinetics of nitrogen transformations during steady leaching. Owing to the many factors which control microbial reaction kinetics in continuous flow systems, the effect of biomass variation and order of reaction cannot be separated by simply measuring steady-state concentrations profiles. It is shown here that in practice these measurements only lead to some average kinetics for the system observed, even when the microbe distribution is measured independently. Previously published experimental data in conjunction with a derived expression are used to illustrate the point.

اظهر المزيد [+]