Quantifying soil carbon stocks and humification through spectroscopic methods: A scoping assessment in EMBU-Kenya.

A soil carbon assessment was performed comparing agricultural cropping systems with natural vegetation along a sampling transect spanning different agro-ecologies on the eastern foot slopes of Mount Kenya in Embu county, 125 km from Nairobi, Kenya. The aim was to determine differences in soil carbon stocks and carbon recalcitrance and relate these to soil textural class, altitude, climatic parameters and land use. Soils from main agricultural systems as tea, coffee and maize-based intercropping, as well as from natural vegetation cover were sampled in triplicates, in five layers from 0 to 30 cm in depth and processed for total carbon analysis. The whole soil samples were also analysed using Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy (LIFS) to assess carbon humification. Prototype portable equipment intended for future in situ analysis was used in the lab to ascertain the structure of the most recalcitrant and stable carbon present in different agro-ecosystems. In addition, Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) was tested for the quantitative analysis of soil carbon, showing that it is a reproducible and low-cost method that provided satisfactory results under the processing conditions of the samples. Results showed wide variation in the level and quality of carbon stored in the soils, depending on soil texture, land use, elevation, climate, agricultural practices and land use history. Considering the heterogeneous nature of sampled soils and the performance of NIRS and LIFS, these results can be used as a basis for the development of fully portable systems able to provide rapid, clean and potentially cost-effective relevant information for soil management.

Sensitive and reproducible quantification of Cu2+ by stripping with a carbon paste electrode modified with humic acid.

The preparation of a humic acid modified carbon paste electrode (HA-MCPE) as well as the behavior of its surface as complexing agent toward Cu2+ cations are described. Electrochemical studies of the reduction of the complexed cations and of the anodic stripping oxidation of the resulting copper are outlined. The anodic stripping current was correlated to the Cu2+ concentrations. A well-defined method for the preparation of reproducible electrodes is described. The effects on the current response obtained by cyclic voltammetry of the humic acid ratio, the pH, the accumulation time, and the speed scan rate were studied. Calibration graphs were linear over the range 3 x 10(-8)-10(-5) mol L(-1) Cu2+ and the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) was 1.2% (n=5) for [Cu2+] = 1.6 x 10(-5) mol L(-1). 5 min accumulation time for [Cu2+] > 10(-7) mol L(-1) and 10 min for [Cu2+] < 10(-7) mol L(-1) were sufficient to permit sensitive and reproducible measurements. The electrode was successfully used to measure Cu2+ in real samples and the results were compared to those obtained by the standard method with differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry.