The Effect Of Turfgrass Species, Stand Age, and Soil Depth On Labile Soil Carbon.

Turfgrasses have shown potential to sequester carbon (C) in soil, which can mitigate buildup of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.  Non-labile soil C is not a very good indicator of the short-term inputs by the plant species or the management effects by the turf manager, which can be important for long-term C storage.  Permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) is a relatively new method that can quantify labile soil C quickly and inexpensively.  Although there are many methods that attempt to quantify labile soil C, POXC has shown a greater sensitivity to management or environmental variation than particulate organic C, microbial biomass C, or soil organic C.  Therefore, the objective of this research was to quantify the labile soil C in mature Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and zoysiagrass stands varying in age located throughout Indiana.  Soil samples were collected between June and September of 2013 and classified based on species, age, depth and subsequently analyzed for POXC.  Results to be discussed.