Speciation of Lipids and Humus-Like Colloidal Compounds in a Forest Soil Reclaimed with Municipal Solid Waste Compost

Abstract

The progressive transformations of lipid and humus-like fractions in soil after massive input (400 Mg ha^-1) of urban waste have been studied during an 87-week experiment in field plots of a degraded Calcic Regosol in Central Spain.

Structural changes in the macromolecular fractions were small when compared with the qualitative and quantitative changes in lipid composition. The intense depletion of the lipid fraction with time and the decrease of the humic acid to fulvic acid ratio were the most significant quantitative indices of the compost transformation in soil. Changes in soil lipid fractions were especially noted in relation to their speciation status and distribution patterns (carbon preference index and relative chain length). Three subfractions were considered: (I) direct extraction with petroleum ether, (II) liquid-liquid extraction after soil treatment with 2 M H₃PO₄ and (III) after soil treatment with 0.1 M NaOH.

Although lipid concentration tends to decrease with time, lipids in the fraction tightly bonded to soil (III) remained qualitatively and quantitatively constant in the course of the field experiment. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses showed that the more stable the association of lipid to the soil matrix, the fewer the changes observed in the distribution pattern of the fatty acids during the progressive transformation stages.

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