A small amount of P may be needed upon reading this, which could explain why I see a jump in respiration after feeding fish hydrolysate.
"Solvita ® 1-day CO2-C: This result is one of the most important numbers in this soil test procedure. This number in ppm is the amount of CO2-C released in 24 hours from soil microbes after your soil has been dried and rewetted (as occurs naturally in the field).
This is a measure of the microbial activity in the soil and is highly related to soil fertility. In most cases, the higher the number, the more fertile the soil.
Microbes exist in soil in great abundance. They are highly adaptable to their environment and their composition, adaptability, and structure are a result of the environment they inhabit. They have adapted to the temperature, moisture levels, soil structure, crop and management inputs, as well as soil nutrient content. In short, they are a product of their environment. If this were not true they most likely would have died out long ago, but they didn’t.
Since soil microbes are highly adaptive and are driven by their need to reproduce and by their need for acquiring C, N, and P in a ratio of 100: 10: 1 (C: N: P), it is safe to assume that soil microbes are a dependable indicator of soil health. It is clear that carbon is the driver of the soil nutrient-microbial recycling system. This consistent need sets the stage for a standardized, universal measurement of soil microbial activity.
Since most soil microbes take in oxygen and release CO2, we can couple this mechanism to their activity. It follows that soil microbial activity is a response to the level of soil quality/fertility in which they find themselves."
http://www.wardlab.com/haney/haney_info.aspx
