title: Priming effect of substrate addition in soil-based biodegradation tests.
abstract: To test whether substrate addition changes background CO2 evolution of soil, we measured both 14CO2 and net CO2 evolution from various test compounds. Glucose caused a priming effect, defined as substrate-stimulated soil organic matter mineralization. Formate, benzoate, n-hexadecane, and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate caused no priming, and phenol caused only a transient one. The priming effect of glucose appears to be unusual and does not require a general rejection of net CO2 evolution measurements in biodegradability testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903-0231, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartha
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D005947:Glucose