They can be divided into 3 subclasses:
- 1. Monosaccharides, which are aldehyde and ketone
derivatives of the higher polyhydric alcohols.
- 2.Oligosaccharides, a large group of polymeric
carbohydrates consisting of a relatively few monosaccharide units.
- 3.Polysaccharides- contain many monomeric
units (8 or more)
The carbohydrates material in soil occurs as:
1. free sugars in the soil solution
2. complex polysaccharides
3. polymeric molecules of various sizes and shapes which are so strongly
attached to clay and/or humic colloids.