13C Labelling of soil n-hentriacontane (C31) by maize cultivation

Eric Lichtfouse (1)

1 ASD - Agronomy for Sustainable Development

The fate of plant carbon into molecular organic substances from soils can be followed by stable carbon analysis. Soil organic matter has thus been progressively labelled with 13C at natural abundance by cultivation of Zea mays, a C4 plant, on a soil which was previously under isotopically distinct C3 vegetation. The molar carbon percentage of maize n-hentriacontane within soil n-hentriacontane has been calculated by isotopic means and amounts to around 50% after 23 years of maize cultivation.

Mots clés: 13C; soil; n-alkane; maize; wheat; GC-IRMS; dynamics

Domaines: Science des sols; Chimie analytique; Géochimie; Agronomie

Eric Lichtfouse. 13C Labelling of soil n-hentriacontane (C31) by maize cultivation. Tetrahedron Letters, 1995, 36 (4), pp.529-530. ⟨10.1016/0040-4039(94)02305-U⟩. ⟨hal-00192951⟩