Lime and/or Phosphate Application Affects the Stability of Soil Organic Carbon: Evidence from Changes in Quantity and Chemistry of the Soil Water-Extractable Organic Matter.

The mechanisms by which lime and/or phosphate addition impacts the preservation of soil organic matter (OM) are poorly understood. We explored the changes in quantity and chemistry of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) in the bulk soil and its heavy density fraction (>1.6 g/cm3) of an unmanaged C-rich volcanic soil caused by lime and/or phosphate application. The addition of lime or phosphate caused (i) a significant increase in the WEOM, along with a decrease in its C/N ratio and an increase in its aromaticity, and (ii) changes in the WEOM chemical composition, measured with pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, this being most impacted by lime application. The combined effect of lime and phosphate addition on the quantity and chemistry of WEOM was larger than the effects of separate lime and phosphate additions. By comparing the response of the bulk soil and the heavy fraction, we infer that phosphate has a greater contribution to the destabilization of vulnerable particulate OM, while lime causes a comparable disruption in the particulate OM and that in the heavy fraction. These findings provide a mechanistic insight into the decreased OM stability after liming and/or P fertilizing Andosols. They have implications for designing climate-smart management practices for these soils.

Data on the organic matter characteristics of New Zealand soils under different land uses.

This article contains data related to the research article entitled "An Investigation of Organic Matter Quality and Quantity in Acid Soils as Influenced by Soil Type and Land Use" (Shen et al., 2018) [1]. The data was collected using a chemical fractionation scheme of soil organic matter (OM). This involved the separation of organic carbon (OC) fractions based on their solubility in (i) cold and hot water, (ii) 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate (pH ~ 10), and (iii) 2% HF solution, and the residue remaining after the HF extraction. The OM in this residue, after treatment with 2% HF solution, was characterised using pyrolysis (Py)-GC/MS. This technique involves thermal decomposition of OM into various pyrolysis products, which are then chromatographically separated and determined by mass spectroscopy. This technique has been used to semi-quantify individual soil OM constituents so that in-depth information on soil OM molecular fingerprints is provided. This article presents a detailed dataset of physical-chemical characterization, OC fractions and OM molecular fingerprints of 62 soil samples for a range of soil orders (i.e., Allophanic, Brown, Gley, Pallic and Recent) and land uses (i.e., permanently grazed pasture, ungrazed/unmanaged grasslands, annual cropping) across New Zealand. Principal component analysis was used to investigate the relationships of different soil properties with OC fractions and OM chemistry so that the underlying mechanisms responsible for the differences encountered in OM quantity and quality between soil orders and land uses are understood.