Comparison of litter decomposition and carbon and nitrogen dynamics of soils in Pinus pinea L. and Ceratonia siliqua L. in Çukurova Region

Carbon and nitrogen mineralization of soils of Pinus pinea (Stone pine) and Ceratonia siliqua (Carob tree), grown on conglomerate and marl, and their litter decomposition were seasonally investigated in Cukurova Region. Both soils of plants were found sandy loam and slightly basic. While there were significant differences in terms of carbon amount between seasons in conglomerate and marl soils of P.pinea (P<0,05), no difference were found in C. siliqua. Differences for amounts of nitrogen in conglomerate soils of P.pinea were found between March and June 2012 and between July and October 2013 (P<0,05). In marl soil of C. siliqua, there were found differences in all seasons except March 2012 and October 2013. Litters of both plants, buried at mineral soil surface as litterbags, were decomposed fast in first 318 days and then decayed slowly. In 544 days, it was found that mass loss of C. siliqua were determined much more than P.pinea on both parent materials as their litters decomposed at "medium speed". It was determined that parent material and plant species affected carbon and nitrogen mineralizations and their rates as well. In generally, there were found seasonal differences between carbon mineralizations in both parent materials as marl were higher than conglomerate. Carbon mineralization rates in marl soil of P. pinea were higher than conglomerate soil of C. siliqua. Nitrogen mineralization rate were minimum in marl soil of P. pinea and maximum in conglomerate soil of same plant.