Linking the B ring hydroxylation pattern of condensed tannins to C, N and P mineralization. A case study using four tannins

Condensed tannins (CTs) are a major component of litter inputs, but little is known about the effects of tannin structural variations on soil biological processes and organic matter development. Four different CTs extracted from balsam fir, western red cedar, kalmia and black spruce were added to Corsican pine litter and subsequently incubated for 16 weeks in order to investigate the effect of the B ring hydroxylation pattern on C, N and P transformations. While for C mineralization the chain length and stereochemistry of the CTs seemed to be a more important parameter, net N and P mineralization rates were clearly reduced compared with non-amended litter. With regard to the B ring hydroxylation, the prodelphinidin (PD) CTs having predominantly three hydroxy groups at the B ring (balsam fir and western red cedar) exhibited significantly lower mineralization rates than the procyanidin (PC) CTs having two OH groups (kalmia and black spruce). The same was true for net nitrification, but this process was only slightly affected by the CTs. Although based on only four CTs, this study indicates that B ring hydroxylation is an important variable determining net N and P mineralization rates. Our results support previous suggestions that PD tannins bind to or react more strongly with soil organic matter. Therefore, more than PC tannins, they reduce the availability of organic N for mineralization as well as their own detectability by standard methods for soil CT.