Feasibility of a simple determination of soil organic matter content using spectrophotometric method in Korean soils

A method currently used to determine soil organic matter (SOM), Tyurin method, is time consuming and expensive while accurate. Recently, a spectrophotometric determination was reported to be rapid, accurate, stable, easy to execute, and amendable to field use for soil samples obtained from Texas, USA. The objective of this study was to test if the spectrophotometric method is applicable to soils in Korea. Soil organic matter was extracted by 1 M HCl followed by a 0.25 M NaOH-0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate solution at a ratio of 1:250 soil:extractant. Soil organic matter determined by Tyurin method was linearly related to the value based on absorbance at 300 nm of the soil extracts with a coefficient of determination (r²) of 0.81. Therefore, the result imply that this spectrophotometric method can be used to determine the soil organic matter of agricultural soils in Korea.