DNA extracted from rye grass and wheat straw on agarose gels. Lanes 1, 16, 17, and 32, 23-kbp marker; lanes 2, 15, 18, and 31, DNA Mass ladder (Life Technologies); lanes 3 to 12, five decomposition stages (days 0, 18, 58, 118, and 180, duplicate samples) for rye grass; lanes 13, 14, and 19 to 26, five decomposition stages (days 0, 18, 58, 118, and 180, duplicate samples) for wheat straw; lanes 27 to 30, rye grass (duplicate samples) from northern and southern Germany obtained on day 18.