Relationship between light and heavy fractions of organic matter for several agricultural soils in China

Although numerous studies about the nature and turnover of soil organic matter(SOM) in light and heavy fractions(LFOM and HFOM, respectively) have been made, little information is available in relation to the relationship between LFOM and HFOM, and no attempts have been made to quantify a general relationship between LFOM and HFOM for agricultural soils under field condition. Our hypothesis is there may be an inherent relationship between LFOM and HFOM for agricultural soils under certain unaltered management practices for a long period, to this end, we therefore studied typically soils taken from different parts in China by using a simple density fractionation procedure. The results indicated that LFOM was positively correlated with LFOM/HFOM ratio for three typical soils. This information will be of particular use not only in deepening our understanding of the dynamics of SOM fractions but also in evaluating the potential of agricultural soils to sequestrate C under different management practices in a long term.