Soil aeration and its role for plants

238 Pages·1985·19.52 MB·English

by  Gliÿnski

Soil Aeration
and
Its Role
for
Plants
Authors
Jan Glinski, Ph.D., Dr.Sc.
and
Witold Ph.D., Dr.Cs.
St~pniewski,
Institute of Agrophysics
Polish Academy of Sciences
Lublin, Poland
Boca Raton London New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Glínski. Jan
Soil aeration and its role for plants.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Soil aeration. 2. Plant-soil relationships.
I. St pniewski, Witold, 1947- . II. Title.
S593.7.G55 1985 631.4’33 83-23144
ISBN 0-8493-5250-9
A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 83023144
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PREFACE
Investigations into soil aeration carried out by the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish
Academy of Sciences and the study of its extensive collection of literature of the subject
(more than 800 items) stimulated us to undertake the provision of a systematic and com-
prehensive review of the present state of knowledge concerning soil aeration and its role for
plants.
This book is directed to the interests of our fellow workers on soil aeration. Due to the
interdisciplinary nature of the subject, however, it may also be read by research workers,
teachers, and students of agronomy, soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology, ecology, and
plant physiology.
SI units are used throughout the text, the necessary conversions and recalculations of data
and results having been performed in respect of all reports to which reference is made. The
change of units together with the need to compile data from many sources in order to provide
representative material has precluded the use of figures, diagrams, and tables as originally
published and all such items have been prepared specifically for this edition.
We are indebted to the many colleagues and authors who have sent us reprints of their
papers. We are grateful to Prof. Dr. P. Kowalik, Prof. Dr. W. Mysk6w, and Dr. W.
Zygmunt for their reviews of the manuscript and for many helpful suggestions and criticisms
they have offered. The assistance of Mr. J. G. W. Munns in correcting the language of the
English text is also appreciated.
Finally, we tender our best thanks to our wives for their patient support and encouragement.
J. Glinski
W. St~pniewski
June 1983
THE AUTHORS
Jan Glinski, Ph.D., Dr.Sc., Professor of Agricultural Sciences, pedologist, is a director
of the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin, and a head of
the Laboratory of Soil Physicochemistry in this Institute.
Earlier he worked at the Soil Science Department of the Agricultural University in Lublin,
where he carried out investigations on soil chemistry and especially on trace elements in
soils and plants and instrumental methods of their determination.
In the Institute of Agrophysics, Prof. Glinski leads the group that works on electrical and
aeration properties of soils. He has published more than 10 papers on this subject alone
from a total of 120 of his scientific publications.
As a member of the International Society of Soil Science, he participated in the Congresses
of this Society in Madison ( 1960), Bucharest ( 1964), Moscow (1974), and Edmonton ( 1978),
where he presented his papers.
Witold St~pniewski, Ph.D., Dr.Cs., Associate Professor of Agricultural Sciences, stud-
ied chemistry at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin where he earned his B.Sc.
Since 1970, he has been employed in the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy
of Sciences in Lublin as a research worker. He earned a Ph.D. in 1975 and Dr.Sc. in 1980.
The main subjects of his research are problems of soil aeration, particularly field studies
of soil air, gas diffusion in soil, and plant response to soil oxygen statu~. He is the author
of about 30 papers on those problems.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1
Oxygen Uptake and Carbon Dioxide Production in the Soil Environment ........... 3
I. Respiration and Fermentation -A General Description .......................... 3
II. Respiration in the Soil ............................................................ 5
A. Soil Microbial Respiration and Its Determinants ........................... 5
1. Soil Moisture ...................................................... 6
2. Temperature ....................................................... 7
3. Organic Amendments .............................................. 8
4. Oxygen ............................................................ 9
5. Carbon Dioxide ................................................... 10
6. Soil Air-Filled Porosity, Bulk Density, and Aggregate
Size ............................................................... 11
7. Soil Reaction ..................................................... 11
8. Soil Minerals ..................................................... 11
9. Mineral Fertilization .............................................. 12
10. Heavy Metals ..................................................... 12
11 . Pesticides ......................................................... 13
12. Other Factors ..................................................... 13
B. Root Respiration ......................................................... 13
1. External Factors Influencing Root Respiration .................... 14
a. Oxygen .................................................... 14
b. Carbon Dioxide ........................................... 15
c. NPK Fertilization .......................................... 15
d. Ethylene ................................................... 15
e. Temperature ............................................... 15
f. Soil Mechanical Impedance ............................... 16
g. Soil Salinity ............................................... 16
2. Internal Factors Affecting Root Respiration ....................... 16
C. Respiration of Germinating Seeds in Soil ................................ 17
III. Soil Respiration in the Field or in Near Field Conditions ........................ 17
A. Respiration Within the Soil Profile ....................................... 17
B. Diurnal and Seasonal Dynamics of Soil Respiration in the Field ......... 18
C. Effect of Cropping on Soil Respiration ................................... 18
D. Other Factors ............................................................. 18
IV. Summary ........................................................................ 19
Chapter 2
Gas Transport in the Soil Environment ............................................... 39
I. Mass Flow ....................................................................... 39
A. Air Permeability of Soil .................................................. 40
1. Effect of Soil Moisture Tension ................................... 40
2. Effect of Soil Bulk Density ....................................... 40
3. Effect of Air-Filled Porosity of Soil .............................. 40
B. Factors Inducing Mass Flow in Soil ...................................... 42
1. Variations in Soil Temperature .................................... 44
2. Fluctuation of Atmospheric Pressure .............................. 44
3. Changes of Soil Moisture ......................................... 44
4. Wind Action ...................................................... 45
II. Diffusion ......................................................................... 45
A. Principles of Gas Diffusion in a Porous Body ............................ 45
B. Macrodiffusion (Diffusion Within the Soil Profile) ....................... 52
I. Gas Diffusion Coefficient in Soil ................................. 52
2. Gas Diffusion Constant in Soil. ................................... 59
3. Solution of Equations for Oxygen Diffusion in Soil .............. 59
a. Steady-State ............................................... 59
(I) Multilayer Profile .................................. 59
(2) Monolayer Profile .................................. 62
b. Transient-State ............................................ 66
(1) Two-Layer Profile with Respiring Top
Layer .............................................. 66
(2) Monolayer Profile .................................. 70
C. Diffusion Within Soil Aggregates ........................................ 73
D. Microdiffusion ............................................................ 77
E. Diffusion Within Plants .................................................. 79
I. Radial Diffusion .................................................. 81
2. Longitudinal Diffusion ............................................ 85
III. Summary ........................................................................ 87
Symbols and Units ...................................................................... 88
Chapter 3
Soil Air ................................................................................. 91
I. Air Content in Soil .............................................................. 91
II. Soil Air Composition ............................................................ 91
A. Oxygen ................................................................... 94
B. Carbon Dioxide .......................................................... 98
C. Nitrous Oxide ........................................................... 100
D. Ethylene ................................................................. 100
E. Methane and Other Hydrocarbons ....................................... 103
III. Summary ....................................................................... 104
Chapter 4
Biological and Chemical Processes Related to Soil Air .............................. 105
I. Microbial Population, Respiration, and Enzyme Activity ....................... 105
II. Redox Potential and Electron Activity in Soil. .................................. 105
III. Soil Reaction ................................................................... 109
IV. Specific Conductance and Ionic Strength ....................................... 110
V. Nitrogen Transformations ....................................................... 110
A. Denitrification ........................................................... 111
B. Nitrification ............................................................. 111
C. Nitrogen Fixation ........................................................ 112
D. Ammonification ......................................................... 112
VI. Manganese Transformations .................................................... 112
VII. Iron Transformations ............................................................ 114
VIII. Sulfur Transformations .......................................................... 116
IX. Solubility of Phosphorus ........................................................ 117
X. Solubility of Other Elements .................................................... 117
XI. Hydrogen Transformations ...................................................... 117
XII. Formation of Characteristic Organic Compounds ............................... 118
A. Gases .................................................................... 118
B. Organic Acids and Other Organic Compounds .......................... 118
XIII. Soil Aeration and Pedogenesis .................................................. 119
A. H ydromorphic Soils ..................................................... 119
B. Paddy Soils .............................................................. 120
XIV. Summary ....................................................................... 120
Chapter 5
Soil Air and Plant Response .......................................................... 137
I. Direct Effects of Soil Air on Plants ............................................. 137
A. Plant Response to Oxygen Deficiency ................................... 139
l. Seedling Emergence ............................................. 139
2. Root Respiration, Anoxic Metabolites in Plants, and Their
Physiological Effects ............................................. 141
a. Oxygen Uptake by Roots ................................. 141
b. Ethanol Accumulation in Plants .......................... 141
c. Ethylene in Plants ........................................ 145
d. Other Anoxic Metabolites in Plant Tissue ................ 145
3. Stomata Closure ................................................. 146
4. Water Uptake .................................................... 147
5. Plant Growth and Yield .......................................... 149
a. Root Response ........................................... 149
b. Shoot Response .......................................... 151
6. Nutrient Uptake and Mineral Composition of Plants ............. 152
a. Nitrogen .................................................. 152
b. Phosphorus ............................................... 153
c. Potassium ................................................ 155
d. Calcium and Magnesium ................................. 155
e. Sodium ................................................... 157
f. Chlorine .................................................. 157
g. Micronutrients ............................................ 158
B. Plant Response to Oxygen Surplus ...................................... 159
C. Plant Response to Carbon Dioxide ...................................... 161
D. Plant Response to Ethylene .............................................. 163
II. Indirect Effects of Deficient Aeration on Plants ................................. 164
A. Redox Potential ......................................................... 164
B. Soil Reaction ............................................................ 165
C. Nutrient Availability ..................................................... 165
D. Toxic Substances in a Reduced Soil Environment ....................... 166
E. Pathogens and Pests ..................................................... 167
III. Flooding Tolerance and Adaptation of Plant Species ............................ 168
IV. Summary ....................................................................... 170
Chapter 6
Measuring Soil Aeration .............................................................. 173
I. Air-Filled Porosity .............................................................. 173
II. Air Permeability ................................................................ 173
III. Diffusion Coefficient of Gases .................................................. 174
IV. Soil Respiration ................................................................. 176
A. Laboratory Techniques .................................................. 176
B. Field Methods ........................................................... 177
V. Soil Air Composition ........................................................... 178
A. Analytical Methods ...................................................... 178
1. Oxygen .......................................................... 178
2. Carbon Dioxide .................................................. 179
3. Ethylene ......................................................... 179
4. Methane ......................................................... 179
5. Nitrogenous Gases ............................................... 179
6. Hydrogen ........................................................ 180
7. Hydrogen Sulfide ................................................ 180
8. Simultaneous Determination of Many Soil Gases ................ 180
B. Sampling the Soil Air ................................................... 180
VI. Oxygen Diffusion Rate (ODR) .................................................. 181
A. Principle of the Method ................................................. 181
B. Equipment. .............................................................. 185
VII. Redox Potential ................................................................. 186
VIII. Other Indicators ................................................................. 187
Chapter 7
A Look Ahead ......................................................................... 189
References .............................................................................. 191
Index ................................................................................... 219
1
INTRODUCTION
One of the mo~t important factor~ influencing soil fertility, besides water and nutrient
content. ts sot! air.
Clements 117 traced the fir~t notes on the importance of soil air for plants in the works of
Mayow in 1668, and Huygens and Papin in 1674. It was not unttl a century later that Scheele
and Prie~tley di~covered oxygen, and soon after that its role in the respiratory proce~ses of
livtng organisms had been explained. During this era another pioneer of aeration re~earch
wa~ Ingen Housz. 2"1
The fir~t paper on ~oil aeratton appeared in France in 1853 and was published by Bous-
signault and LCwy. 6KS oon after that, in 1874, Soraurer261 established deficient soil aeration
as a cau~e of plant disea~e~ and in 1904 BuckinghamK7 stated that the main mechamsm of
gas exchange in soil i~ diffu~ton.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a number of papers on the composition of ~oil air
appeared. of which the most important are those of Russell and Appleyard.''21 Clements,117
and Cannon and Free. 1m
The latter authors, as well as Hutchins. '29 pointed out that the rate of oxygen influx to
the plant roots rather than the oxygen content in the soil ha~ a decisive role tn supplying
plant roots with oxygen.
Hutchms '"'' elaborated the first. already htstorical, method for the evaluation of oxygen
availability, the placement of oxygen absorber in the soil. This method was replaced by
Lemon and Erickson"1 tn 1952 with a method of polarographic reduction of oxygen on a
''
platinum cathode.
Further progress in research on soil atr-plant relations wa~ also connected with the de-
velopment of new measuring techniques such as gas chromatography in 1952 and membrane-
covered oxygen electrodes in 1963 (cf. Chapter 6).
In the literature concerning the soil aeration problem there are some terminological in-
consistencies. The term --~oil aeration" is ~ometimes inadequately used in a narrow ~ense
to denote the gas exchange between the soil and the atmosphere, or the oxygen content of
the soil air, and even as a name for a proces~ of artificially forcing air mto the soil.
In thi~ book the term "soil aeration" is used with a wide meaning including all the related
aspect~ ~uch as soil air composition and its role for plants and the processes of absorption,
production, and transfer of gases in soil. That part of soil aeration connected wtth oxygen
distribution in \oil and its availability for microorganisms and plant roots will be called
"soil oxygenation". This term i~ also used by other authors. 25·3x1
Soil aeration is a complex subject. Soil air composition is a resultant effect of biological
and chemical processes of uptake and evolution of gases on the one hand and of the physical
processes of their transport on the other. Plant response to soil air depends, however, not
only on the air composition but also on the other related chemical, physical, and biological
soil processes which are significant for plants.
It is true that the problem of soil aeration or its parttcular aspects have been discussed in
some valuable review~ 25 '6 261 -'HI 623 "2"' ""x 705-707·769·7x7 but a more precise, factual treatment
of this subject is needed. Hence the aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive review
of all aspects of the problem and of the methods used in connection with it.