ISHS Acta Horticulturae 150: International Symposium on Substrates in Horticulture other than Soils In Situ
MICROBIAL ACTIVITY IN BLOCKING COMPOST. 2. MEASUREMENT OF ATP CONCENTRATIONS. |
| Authors: | C.P. Turner, W.R. Carlile |
| Abstract:
The biomass of peat based media was estimated by determining the ATP content of media. The Luciferin-luciferase technique, using trichloroacetic acid/disodium hydrogen orthophosphate/paraquat dichloride as extractant, was employed. Media volumes of 10 cm3, an extractant volume of 25 cm3 and a disintegration time of 2 min were considered most suitable for ATP extraction. Peat media were found to contain 0.14–0.37 μg. ATP. cm-3 fresh medium, much lower values than mineral soils. Slight increases in ATP concentrations (0.3 – 0.4 μg. cm-3 medium) were observed after four days in blocking media amended with very high concentrations of ATP (50 – 150 μg. cm-3 medium). These increases may reflect increases in biomass following the uptake of carbon sources such as adenosine - formed by the breakdown of the labile ATP molecule in media. Over 99.7% of ATP added to blocking media was not recovered and this indicates that the principal source of ATP extracted from blocking media is living biomass. | |
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