Is it necessary to sterilize the soil before conducting column experiments?
I need to conduct soil column experiment to test transport of nano-nutrients through which i need to test nitrogen and phosphorous in the lechate. So, there will be any effect if I use sterilized soil to conduct the column experiment?
It depends - if you want to test mineralisation of organic nitrogen in the soil, then you require a good microbiology. So the right answer to your question (whether sterilzation is warranted and how) depends on what type of collumn test you envisage.
I think , it is necessary to sterilize the soil to be inoculated with AMF , simply to ward off the competing action from other soil microbial community . Such a situation will be ideal for studying the response of AMF-inoculation...
Please find enclosed the protocol for your reference on protocols for soil sterilization. I think you can try with quartz as control, then the movement of nutrients may be studied without any interaction.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agriculture
- Soil Science
- Soil