I have soil samples collected from 20 or 30 years ago, during these 20 years, I left them in storage with similar environmental conditions to outside, do you think the soil organic matter and texture changed? Have any relevant studies have been done before?
I do not expect texture to change in a 20 to 30 years timeframe. However, I expect SOM to be much lower since all SOM in the labile pool will be reduced and no new organic material is added to replenish the pools.
texture not possible.....but SOM change should be there becos of decomposition ...
I tried to experiment this sometime ago. Texture did not change over 15 year of storage. However, SOM did not significantly change over the same period. This because microbial activities is suspended owing to the dry nature of the soil samples.
This work was not published.
We dealt with this question or part of it in our paper, which you may wish to glance at. Thanks.
' Long-term effects of fallow, tillage and manure application on soil organic matter and nitrogen fractions and on sorghum yield under Sudano-Sahelian conditions. Soil Use and Management 21 (1): 25-31 (2005)
The texture will not change because it would be affected only by the weathering process (needs a lot of time). The organic carbon yes, can vary. An alternative is to freeze the soil sample to stop biological reactions.
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