This month, lets talk about organic matter and its role in the soil food web.
“Soil organic matter” includes all the organic substances in or on the soil.
These include:
- Living organisms: Bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, earthworms, arthropods, and living roots.
- Dead plant material; organic material; detritus; surface residue: All these terms refer to plant, animal, or other organic substances that have recently been added to the soil and have only begun to show signs of decay. Detritivores are organisms that feed on such material.
- Active fraction organic matter: Organic compounds that can be used as food by microorganisms. The active fraction changes more quickly than total organic matter in response to management changes.
- Stabilsed or humified organic matter: Complex organic compounds that remain after many organisms have used and transformed the original material. Humus is not readily decomposed because it is either physically protected inside of aggregates or chemically too complex to be used by most organisms. Humus is important in binding tiny soil aggregates, and improves water and nutrient holding capacity.
Soil organic matter is the storehouse for the energy and nutrients used by plants and other organisms. Bacteria, fungi, and other soil dwellers transform and release nutrients from organic matter.
Organic matter is many different kinds of compounds – some more useful to organisms than others. In general, soil organic matter is made of roughly equal parts humus and active organic matter. Active organic matter is the portion available to soil organisms.
Components of Soil Organic Matter
Bacteria tend to use simpler organic compounds, such as root exudates or fresh plant residue. Fungi tend to use more complex compounds, such as fibrous plant residues, wood and soil humus.
Intensive tillage triggers spurts of activity among bacteria and other organisms that consume organic matter (convert it to CO2), depleting the active fraction first. Practices that build soil organic matter (reduced tillage and regular additions of organic material) will raise the proportion of active organic matter long before increases in total organic matter can be measured. As soil organic matter levels rise, soil organisms play a role in its conversion to humus—a relatively stable form of carbon sequestered in soils for decades or even centuries.
Credit: Soil Biology Primer Available: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/health/biology/[accessed 25/11/22).