Soil C:N Ratio & Nitrogen Mineralization Lab

Every organic amendment a farmer adds to soil — straw, compost, manure, cover-crop residue — carries its own carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and that single number decides whether decomposing microbes release nitrogen for the next crop or lock it away instead. This simulator applies a chosen residue to a 3D soil block and runs a real first-order decomposition model coupled to microbial nitrogen demand: pick a preset amendment or drag the C:N slider, adjust temperature and application rate, and watch the residue carbon pool (brown) shrink on the surface while plant-available nitrogen (blue) either accumulates or drains inside the soil, with live mineralization/immobilization flux and available-N readouts tracking the classic critical C:N ≈ 20:1 threshold in real time.