Carbon and phosphorus in the soil biomass of some tropical soils of India

Abstract

Microbial biomass C and P were measured for six tropical soils. Biomass C ranged from 149 to 667 μg g-1 soil and biomass P from 17 to 35 μg g-1 soil and the two were linearly related with the soil biomass having a mean P concentration of 3.5%. Soil biomass accounted for 2.5-5.6% of total soil organic C and 9.2-19.2% of the total soil organic P. The amount of biomass P was positively related with NaHCO3-extraclable soil inorganic P. P concentration in biomass on the other hand exhibited an inverse relationship with NaHCO3-extractable soil Pi. © 1988.