Extractable sulphate and organic sulphur in soils and their availability to plants

Abstract

Ten soils collected from the major arable areas in Britain were used to assess the availability of soil sulphur (S) to spring wheat in a pot experiment. Soils were extracted with various reagents and the extractable inorganic SO4-S and total soluble S(SO4-S plus a fraction of organic S) were determined using ion chromatography (IC) or inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), respectively. Water, 0.016 M KH2PO4, 0.01 M CaCl2 and 0.01 M Ca(H2PO4)2 extracted similar amounts of SO4-S, as measured by IC, which were consistently smaller than the total extractable S as measured by ICP-AES. The amounts of organic S extracted varied widely between different extractants, with 0.5 M NaHCO3 (pH 8.5) giving the largest amounts and 0.01 M CaCl2 the least. Organic S accounted for approximately 30–60% of total S extracted with 0.016 M KH2PO4 and the organic C:S ratios in this extract varied typically between 50 and 70. The concentrations of this S fraction decreased in all soils without added S after two months growth of spring wheat, indicating a release of organic S through mineralisation. All methods tested except 0.5 M NaHCO3-ICP-AES produced satisfactory results in the regression with plant dry matter response and S uptake in the pot experiment. In general, 0.016 M KH2PO4 appeared to be the best extractant and this extraction followed by ICP-AES determination was considered to be a good method to standardise on.