Sulphur availability depends on the dynamics of its soil forms. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of adding sulphur doses (0, 20, 50, 80, and 120 mg dm-3 of S), as calcium sulphate, and the incubation time (1, 8, 15, 30, 60, and 90 d) on the equilibrium between labile and non-labile sulphur reserves, in 10 soils. An anion exchange resin membrane was used to determine labile sulphur. A shaking period of 48 h (of water, soil and resin mixture) extracted a greater part of labile sulphur, which was termed quickly-labile sulphur (QLS). The slowly-labile sulphur plus the non-labile sulphur (SLS+NLS) were determined by the difference between the soil sulphur by calcination and the SRL. The soil resistance against passing the SRL reserve to SLL+SNL was named labile sulphur buffering capacity (LSBC), computed by the inverse angular coefficient of the linear equations between SRL and SLL+SNL contents. In general, it was observed that incubation time (reactivity) and S doses, in the form of calcium sulphate, affect the sulphur dynamics between QLS reserves and SLS+NLS. The LSBC is sensitive to changes in the balance between sulfur reserves in the soil. The increase in LSBC in the soil was mainly related to the maximum adsorption capacity of sulphate (MACS), and contents of organic carbon, goethite and gibbsite in the clay fraction of the soils.
labile sulphur; non-labile sulphur; anionic exchange resin sheet; labile sulphur buffering capacity
