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Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals . [ 1 ]
A portion of organic matter is not mineralized and instead decomposed into stable organic matter that is denominated "humus". [1] The decomposition of organic compounds occurs at very different rates, depending on the nature of the compound. The ranking, from fast to slow rates, is: Sugars, starches, and simple proteins; Proteins ...
Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biosphere.
Immobilization in soil science is the conversion of inorganic compounds to organic compounds by microorganisms or plants by which the compounds become inaccessible to plants. [1] Immobilization is the opposite of mineralization. In immobilization, inorganic nutrients are taken up by soil microbes and become unavailable for plant uptake. [2]
Agricultural microbiology is a branch of microbiology dealing with plant-associated microbes and plant and animal diseases. It also deals with the microbiology of soil fertility, such as microbial degradation of organic matter and soil nutrient transformations.
With the loss of photosynthetic plants covering and cooling the surface of the soil, the infrared energy penetrates the soil heating it up and causing a rise in heterotrophic bacteria. Heterotrophs in the soil quickly degrade the organic matter and soil structure crumbles, thus it dissolves into streams and rivers into the sea.
Organic matter is made up mostly of carbon and nitrogen, so adding a substrate containing certain ratios of these nutrients to soil may affect the microbes that are mineralizing SOM. Fertilizers , plant litter , detritus , and carbohydrate exudates from living roots , can potentially positively or negatively prime SOM decomposition.
Particulate organic matter (POM): is the organic matter that retains evidence of its original cellular structure, [18] and is discussed further in the next section. Humus: is usually the largest proportion of organic matter in soil, contributing 45 to 75%. Typically it adheres to soil minerals, and plays an important role structuring soil.