Use of the Warburg Respirometer to study Microbial Activity in Soils

Abstract

THE respiratory activity of the micro-organisms in samples of soil, determined by estimating the evolution of carbon dioxide, has long been considered by soil microbiologists to be related to soil fertility^1,2. Lees has recently described a modified Haldane respirometer for measuring oxygen uptake as the criterion for that activity³. Along somewhat similar lines, our own studies suggest that the Warburg constant-volume respirometer may prove a valuable tool with which to examine the activities of soil organisms in the breakdown of soil organic matter, or to determine the effect of various treatments in modifying the behaviour of soil organisms.