Soil microbial biomass and respiration measurements: an automated technique based on infra-red gas analysis

An automated system for continuous soil respiration and microbial biomass measurements based on infra-red gas analysis was constructed. The switching device is computer controlled and allows hourly meassurements of up to 24 samples when switching intervals of 2.5 min are selected. This allows the use of the substrate-induced respiration method for biomass determination. A software package to run the system was developed.