Effect of organic fertilisers on glomalin content and soil organic matter quality

Abstract

Glomalin is one of the factors with an important role at forming and stabilising soil aggregates. Long-term stationary experiments were carried out to observe the influence of various fertilisation treatments on the content of glomalin in topsoil. The content of easily extractable glomalin (EEG) and total glomalin (TG) were determined. Moreover, glomalin was also determined by using the near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (GNIRS). Both mineral and organic fertilisation significantly increased the content of glomalin compared to the unfertilised control. However, observed differences among individual fertilisation treatments were not significant. A significant correlation was determined between the content of EEG, TG, GNIRS, and the content of humic substances as well as humic acids. Both methods used (EEG, TG) can equally reflect soil organic matter quality. A significant correlation was also recorded between the GNIRS and extraction methods (EEG, TG).

Keywords

• long-term experiments
• mineral fertilisation
• humic substances fractionation
• glycoprotein
• decomposition
• quality indicator