PASTURE STUDIES XII THE NATURE OF THE ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS IN SOILS

Abstract
An improved procedure for the separation of nucleic acid material from soil is described. By its use as much as 65% of the apparent organic phosphorus in soil has been separated in the nucleic acid fraction; this shows that most of the soil organic phosphorus exists in this form. Material of this nature enters the soil solution.The material separated yielded, on hydrolysis, phosphoric acid, pentose sugar, adenine, and uracil. This indicates that it is a mixture of mononucleotides.The presence of traces of ether-soluble phosphorus in soil was confirmed.