Managing Soil Biota-Mediated Decomposition and Nutrient Mineralization in Sustainable Agroecosystems

Table 2

Methods proposed to assess physical, chemical, and biological barriers to soil biota-mediated decomposition and nutrient mineralization.

Physical methods	Chemical methods (in whole soil or soil extracts, for example, hot water extractable organic matter)	Biological methods
Mass loss (litterbags); Light fraction of organic matter; Particulate organic matter (whole soil); Particulate organic matter (associated with aggregate size fractions)	Qualitative/semiquantitative; Near infrared spectroscopy; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy; Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (solid-state and soil pore water)	Extracellular enzyme assays (cellobiohydrolase, peroxidase, phenol oxidase, laccase, protease, phosphatase, sulfatase, etc.); Soil respiration (CO2); Net N, P, and S mineralization; Intracellular enzyme assays (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase); Concentrations of soluble , , H2, , and ions in soil; Concentrations of N, P, and S in plants at critical growth stages
	Quantitative (in whole soil or soil extracts); Organic C, N, P, and S and elemental ratios; Fiber analysis (acid detergent and neutral detergent fibers); Cellulose, lignin, and so forth by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS); Proteins, peptides, and so forth by electrospray ionization-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (ESI-LC/MS); Ester phosphates by LC-quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF)/MS; Ester sulfates by matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight/mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS)