The Decomposition Of Cellulose By Soil Fungi And Its Effect On Plant Growth

The breadth and depth of understanding of many areas concerning basidiomycetes has increased dramatically since the premier publication of Frankland et al., Decomposer Basidiomycetes: their Biology and Ecology. New vistas have opened up with the advent of powerful computing, modeling and molecular approaches helping to greatly increase the general understanding of the ecology of basidiomycetes. This is tantamount to understanding the role of fungi in natural ecosystems because they are major agents of decomposition and nutrient cycling. These remarkable advances have been incorporated into this volume that discusses all aspects of saprotrophic basidiomycete ecology.

The fourth edition of Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry updates this widely used reference as the study and understanding of soil biota, their function, and the dynamics of soil organic matter has been revolutionized by molecular and instrumental techniques, and information technology. Knowledge of soil microbiology, ecology and biochemistry is central to our understanding of organisms and their processes and interactions with their environment. In a time of great global change and increased emphasis on biodiversity and food security, soil microbiology and ecology has become an increasingly important topic. Revised by a group of world-renowned authors in many institutions and disciplines, this work relates the breakthroughs in knowledge in this important field to its history as well as future applications. The new edition provides readable, practical, impactful information for its many applied and fundamental disciplines. Professionals turn to this text as a reference for fundamental knowledge in their field or to inform management practices. New section on "Methods in Studying Soil Organic Matter Formation and Nutrient Dynamics" to balance the two successful chapters on microbial and physiological methodology Includes expanded information on soil interactions with organisms involved in human and plant disease Improved readability and integration for an ever-widening audience in his field Integrated concepts related to soil biota, diversity, and function allow readers in multiple disciplines to understand the complex soil biota and their function

Macromolecular structures, such as lignin and cellulose, are important components of soil organic carbon, the major terrestrial global carbon pool. The degradation of these macromolecules, including lignin and cellulose, in plant-derived soil organic matter, is important to the global carbon cycle. In grasslands, saprotrophic (decomposer) fungi are major decomposers of such organic material. Some of these compounds, such as lignin are relatively resistant to decay by the microbial community if compared with other compound classes such as cellulose. In this work we investigate the involvement of fungi in the decomposition of both lignin and cellulose and look to link the decomposition processes observed in the field to those observed in a laboratory-controlled environment. The key findings of this work are:- Field based experiments in both tropical and temperate environments indicated that lignin can be degraded completely, most likely by white-rot fungi, as shown by the shifts in the [Ac/Al]S, [Ac/Al]G and [S/G] relative lignin decomposition state proxies. The results confirm that even in a very low carbon environment, fungi are able to completely degrade lignin over time. However, lignin is degraded much faster in tropical environments. Culturing experiments showed that it was possible to isolate a number of fungi present on the degraded wheat straw collected in the field, especially soft-rot fungi. When used in microcosm experiments using a range of organic substrates, the relative lignin decomposition state proxies indicated that Absidia cylindrospora and Trichoderma koningii are not able to completely degrade lignin but preferentially degrade cellulose. Cellulose degradation rates are much higher than those of lignin in degraded field samples over time, confirming previous work.

Excerpt from Studies on the Decomposition of Cellulose in Soils Extensive investigations during the last few years have shown that the decomposition of cellulose is by no means limited to the bacteria of soils. The filamentous fungi possessing this power are very numerous and many species are exceedingly active agents in the destruction of cellulose. In the humid soils of the East the filamentous fungi are perhaps of greater importance than bacteria in the destruction of cellulose, while in the semi-arid soils of the West the reverse is apparently true. Several Species of Actinomyces are also known to have the power of dissolving cellulose and because of their general distribution, these organisms are undoubtedly a factor in the destruction of cellulose in soils. This paper deals, for the most part, with investigations of cellulose-dissolving bac teria. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.