Effect of air-drying pre-treatment on the characterization of forest soil carbon pools

Archived soils could represent a valuable resource for the spatio-temporal inventory of soil carbon stability. However, archived soils are usually air-dried before storage and the impact of a drying pretreatment on physically and chemically-defined C fractions has not yet been fully assessed. Through the comparison of field-moist and corresponding air-dried (at 25oC for 2 weeks) forest soil samples, we examined the effect of air-drying on: a) the quantity and the quality of cold- (CWEC) and hot-water (HWEC) extractable C and b) the concentration of C in physically isolated fractions (free- and intra-aggregate light and organo-mineral). Soil samples were collected from the organic (O) and mineral (A and B) horizons of three different forest soils from southeastern England: (i) Cambisol under Pine (Pinus nigra); (ii) Cambisol under Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and (iii) Gleysol under oak (Quercus robur). CWEC concentrations for dry samples were up to 2 times greater than for corresponding field moist samples and had significantly (p < 0.001) higher phenolic content. However, the effect of drying pretreatment on HWEC, its phenolic content was not significant (p > 0.05) for most samples. Dried soils had significantly (p < 0.001) higher concentrations of free light-C while having lower concentrations of intra-aggregate-C when compared to moist samples (p < 0.001). However, fine silt and clay fractions were not significantly affected by the drying pretreatment (p=0.789). Therefore, based on the results obtained from gleysol and cambisol forest soils studied here, C contents in hot-water extractions and fine particle size physical fractions (< 25µm) seem to be robust measurements for evaluating C fractions in dried stored forest soils. Further soil types should be tested to evaluate the wider generality of these findings.

Extractability and characteristics of proteins deriving from wheat DDGS

Wheat Distillers’ Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and in-process samples were used for protein extraction. Prolamins were the predominant protein components in the samples. The absence of extractable α- and γ-gliadins in DDGS indicated protein aggregation during the drum drying processing stage. Prolamin extraction was performed using 70% (v/v) ethanol or alkaline-ethanol solution in the presence of reducing agent. DDGS extracts had relatively low protein contents (14-44.9%, w/w), regardless of the condition applied. The wet solids were the most suitable raw material for protein extraction, with recovery yields of ~ 55% (w/w) and protein content of ~58% (w/w) in 70% (v/v) ethanol. Protein extracts from wet solids were significantly rich in glutamic acid and proline. Mass balance calculations demonstrated the high carbohydrate content (~ 50%, w/w) of solid residues. Overall, the feasibility of utilising in-process samples of DDGS for protein extraction with commercial potential was demonstrated.