Field-scale assessment of direct and indirect effects of soil texture on organic matter mineralization during a dry summer

Soil texture plays a crucial role in organic matter (OM) mineralization through both direct interactions with minerals and indirect effects on soil moisture. Separating these effects could enhance the modelling of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics under climate change scenarios. However, the attempts have been limited smallscale experiments. Here, we studied the effects of soil texture on added OM mineralization in loamy sand, loam and silt loam soils in nine agricultural fields in Flanders, Belgium. Soil moisture, temperature, groundwater table depth and the mineralization of 13C-labeled ryegrass were monitored in buried mesocosms for approximately three months during a dry summer. Ryegrass-C mineralization was lowest in the loamy sand (39 & PLUSMN; 7 %) followed by silt loam (48 & PLUSMN; 7 %) and loam (63 & PLUSMN; 5 %) soils, challenging the current clay%-based moderation of Cmineralization rates in soil models. Soil temperature was not influenced by soil texture, whereas soil moisture was indeed dependent on soil texture. It appears that capillarity sustained upward water supply from groundwater to the topsoil in loam and silt loam soils but not in loamy sand soil, although this difference in capillary rise could not fully explain the higher moisture content in loam than that in silt loam soils. Additionally, soil texture only impacted remnant added ryegrass pieces (>500 & mu;m) but not the finer ryegrass-derived SOC (