Reply To: Lecture Questions

[Mario Tenuta]

Hello Jennifer. There is no purpose to the priming effect. It does have an effect though. An increase in microbial activity with addition of labile material results in release of extracellular enzymes by soil bacteria and fungi. These enzymes are released by microbes to depolymerize the labile carbon. However, the enzymes also encounter humus and work to depolymerize the humus. This is the priming effect, an increase in degradation of stabilized carbon as a result of addition of labile carbon materials to soil. I hope this helps understand the priming effect better. take care, Mario