A combined mass and energy balance to provide bioindicators of soil microbiological quality

In this work, a method is proposed to quantify the efficiency of carbon utilization by soil microbes. Microcalorimetry was used to compute the heat yield (Y-Q/X) of six soil samples collected in the Amazon. A combined mass and energy balance is developed to quantify the enthalpy of the glucose oxidation reaction (Delta(r)H(s)) and the biomass yield (Y-X/S) from the experimental values of Y-Q/X. Results were compared by graphical analysis to establish the kinetics of the glucose oxidation and the microbial growth reactions in terms of energy dissipation. The correlations found suggest that the measured values for Y-Q/X and Delta(r)H(s) are biomass yield dependent. The main environmental factors affecting the kinetics of the glucose oxidation and the microbial growth reactions in soils are the initial microbial population and the percentage of nitrogen of the samples. The comparative study among the samples showed that the deforestation of the Primary forests in the Amazon to establish arable lands, affected the efficiency of the carbon utilization by soil microorganisms. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.