FACTORS AFFECTING RATE OF OXIDATION IN SOILS OF ELEMENTAL SULFUR AND THAT ADDED IN ROCK PHOSPHATE-SULFUR FUSIONS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The most favorable level of soil moisture for oxidation of S in soils was found to be near field moisture capacity, with a rather sharp drop both.above and below this level. The rate of oxidation was directly related to soil temperature and soil pH and inversely related to particle size of S and of rock phosphate-S fusions and to the ratio of rock phosphate to S in the fusions. The rate of S oxidation in rock phosphate-S fusions was also directly related to total porosity of the granules and inversely to pore size. At the end of a 4-week incubation period, nearly half the added S flowers had been oxidized at 75[degree]F, compared to less than 5% at 40[degree]F. At the higher temperature less than 10% of the added 16-mesh S was oxidized. The addition of lime to acid soils tended to increase somewhat the rate of S oxidation. The data presented suggest that among soils there may be considerable variation in the relative numbers of S bacteria that are present, and that the addition of S to the soil may greatly alter the relative numbers of these organisms. In most cases the addition of a small amount of water suspension from a soil known to contain large numbers of S-oxidizing organisms greatly increased the rate of oxidation of S in samples of ten different soil types during a 2-week incubation period.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: