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The Carbon-Nitrogen Ratio of Soil Organic Matter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

W. McLean
Affiliation:
University College of North Wales, Bangor

Extract

1. The average carbon-nitrogen ratio for fifty British soils from widely distributed areas approximates to the figure 10: 1 given by other investigators. The range of variation is from 6·5 to 13·5: 1. Sixteen foreign samples gave C/N ratios varying from 2·0 to 23·0: 1.

2. Soils from limited areas, whether high or low in organic carbon, give approximately constant ratios, but these ratios vary from place to place according to soil, climate, etc. It is suggested that the C/N ratios may be specific.

3. The C/N ratios of arable soils do not differ appreciably from those of grassland soils. The percentages of carbon and nitrogen are somewhat higher in the grassland samples than in the arable samples.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1930

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References

REFERENCES

(1)Robinson, G. W., McLean, and Williams, , Rice, . J. Agric. Sci. (1929), 19, 315–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Fraps, G. S.Texas Agric. Exp. Sta. (1922), Bull. 300.Google Scholar
(3)Jenny, H.Soil Sci. (1929), 27, 169–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar