Changes in water content of two agricultural soils does not alter labile P and C pools

Abstract

Aims: An incubation study was conducted to investigate how changes in soil water content affect labile phosphorus and carbon pools, mineralisation patterns and microbial community composition. Methods: Two soils from different climatic histories were subjected to four long-term (15 weeks) soil water regimes (constant field capacity (m); 3 dry-rewet (DRW) cycles evenly spaced (intermittent, int); 3 DRW cycles with a shorter interval after a long dry period (false break, fb); constantly air-dry (d)) (incubation period 1). In the subsequent incubation period 2, a set of cores from each treatment were subjected to one DRW cycle (air-dry for 7 day; field capacity for 14 day) or maintained at fiel..