PowerSlicing to determine fluorescence lifetimes of water-soluble organic matter derived from soils, plant biomass, and animal manures.

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy was used to characterize water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) which plays an important role in soil ecosystem processes. WSOM was extracted from plant biomass, animal manures, and soils from controlled cropping systems studies with known histories of organic amendments. Lifetime constants were derived using the multi-way PowerSlicing method which provides a non-iterative, multi-exponential fitting of decay profiles. The lifetimes obtained by PowerSlicing were not significantly different from those obtained using the traditional discrete components analysis. The three components attributed to WSOM had lifetimes of 0.38 +/- 0.14, 2.11 +/- 0.72, and 7.08 +/- 1.18 ns which are in agreement with previous lifetimes reported for humic substances. This study provides further support for the new paradigm for the structure of soil organic matter where the organic matter is composed of low-molecular-weight components held together by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions.