Abstract
This study investigated the effect of management on β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, and arylsulfatase activities and the microbial community structure in semiarid soils from West Texas, USA. Surface samples (0–5 cm) were taken from a fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, and loam that were under continuous cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) or in cotton rotated with peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.), rye ( Secale cereale) or wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), and had different water management (irrigated or dryland), and tillage (conservation or conventional). The enzyme activities were higher in the loam and sandy clay loam than in the fine sandy loam. Soil pH was not affected by management, but the soil organic C and total N contents were generally affected by the different crop rotations and tillage practices studied. The trends of the enzyme activities as affected by management depended on the soil, but in general crop rotations and conservation tillage increased the enzyme activities in comparison to continuous cotton and conventional tillage. The soil enzyme activities were significantly correlated with the soil organic C ( r -values up to 0.90, P< 0.001), and were correlated among each other ( r -values up to 0.90, P <0.001). There were differences in the fatty acid methyl ester profiles between the fine sandy loam and the sandy clay loam and loam, and they reflected the differences in the enzyme activities found among the soils. For example, a 15:0 ranged from 1.61±0.25% in cotton-peanut/irrigated/no-till in the fine sandy loam to 3.86±0.48% in cotton-sorghum/dryland/conservation tillage in the sandy clay loam. There were no differences due to management within the same soil.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acosta-Martínez V, Tabatabai MA (2000) Enzyme activities of a limed agricultural soil. Biol Fertil Soils 31:85–91
Acosta-Martínez V, Tabatabai MA (2001) Tillage and residue management effects on arylamidase activity in soils. Biol Fertil Soils 34:21–24
Acosta-Martínez V, Reicher Z, Bischoff M, Turco RF (1999) The role of tree leaf mulch and nitrogen fertilizer on turfgrass soil quality. Biol Fertil Soils 29:55–61
Bandick AK, Dick RP (1999) Field management effects on soil enzyme activities. Soil Biol Biochem 31:1471–1479
Burns RG (1982) Enzyme activity in soil: location and a possible role in microbial ecology. Soil Biol Biochem 14:423–427
Cavigelli MA, Robertson GP, Klug MJ (1995) Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles as measures of soil microbial community structure. Plant Soil 170:99–113
Deng SP, Tabatabai MA (1996a) Effect of tillage and residue management on enzyme activities in soils. I. Amidohydrolases. Biol Fertil Soils 22:202–207
Deng SP, Tabatabai MA (1996b) Effect of tillage and residue management on enzyme activities in soils. II. Glycosidases. Biol Fertil Soils 22:208–213
Deng SP, Tabatabai MA (1997) Effect of tillage and residue management on enzyme activities in soils. III. Phosphatases and arylsulfatase. Biol Fertil Soils 24:141–146
Deng SP, Tabatabai MA (2000) Effect of cropping systems on nitrogen mineralization in soils. Biol Fertil Soils 31:211–218
Dick WA (1984) Influence of long term tillage and crop rotation combinations on soil enzyme activities. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:569–574
Dick RP, Breakwill D, Turco RF (1996) Soil enzyme activities and biodiversity measurements as integrating biological indicators. In: Doran JW, Jones AJ (eds) Handbook of methods for assessment of soil quality. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., pp 247–272
Ekenler M, Tabatabai MA (2002) β-Glucosaminidase activity of soils: effect of cropping systems and its relationship to nitrogen mineralization. Biol Fertil Soils 36:367–376
Gregorich EG, Carter MR, Doran JW, Pankhurst CE, Dwyer LM (1997) Biological attributes of soil quality. In: Gregorich CE, Carter MR (eds) Soil quality for crop production and ecosystem health. Developments in soil science 25. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 81–113
Ibekwe AM, Kennedy AC (1999) Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles as a tool to investigate community structure of two agricultural soils. Plant Soil 206:151–161
Kandeler E, Kampichler C, Horak O (1996) Influence of heavy metals on the functional diversity of soil microbial communities. Biol Fertil Soils 23:299–306
Kandeler E, Tscherko D, Spiegel H (1999) Long-term monitoring of microbial biomass, N mineralization and enzyme activities of a Chernozem under different tillage management. Biol Fertil Soils 28:343–351
Kennedy AC (1999) Microbial diversity in agroecosystem quality. In: Collins WW, Qualset CO (eds) Biodiversity in agroecosystem. CRC, Boca Raton, Fla., pp 1–17
Klose S, Tabatabai MA (2000) Urease activity of microbial biomass in soils as affected by cropping systems. Biol Fertil Soils 31:191–199
Klose S, Moore JM, Tabatabai MA (1999) Arylsulfatase activity of microbial biomass in soils as affected by cropping systems. Biol Fertil Soils 29:46–54
Klug MJ, Tiedje JM (1993) Response of microbial communities in changing environmental conditions: chemical and physiological approaches. In: Guerrero R, Pedros-Alio C (eds) Trends in microbial ecology. Spanish Society for Microbiology, Barcelona, pp 371–374
Ladd JN, Foster RC, Nannipieri P, Oades JM (1996) Soil structure and biological activity. In: Stotzky G, Bollag JM (eds) Soil biochemistry, vol 9. Dekker, New York, pp 23–77
Lee JA, Allen BL, Peterson RE, Gregory JM, Moffett KE (1994) Environmental controls on blowing dust direction at Lubbock, Texas, USA. Earth Surf Proc Landforms 19:437–449
Moore JM, Klose S, Tabatabai MA (2000) Soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen as affected by cropping systems. Biol Fertil Soils 31:200–210
Nannipieri P, Kandeler E, Ruggiero P (2002) Enzyme activities and microbiological and biochemical processes in soil. In: Burns RG, Dick RP (eds) Enzymes in the environment: activity, ecology and applications. Dekker, New York, pp 1–33
Ndiaye EL, Sandeno JM, McGrath D, Dick RP (2000) Integrative biological indicators for detecting change in soil quality. Am J Altern Agric 15:26–36
Parham JA, Deng SP (2000) Detection, quantification and characterization of β-glucosaminidase activity in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1183–1190
SAS Institute (1999) SAS/STAT user's guide, version 8.2. SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.
Sasser M (1990) Identification of bacteria by gas chromatography of cellular fatty acids. MIDI technical note no. 101 MIDI, Newark, Del.
Schmidt G, Laskowski M Sr (1961) Phosphate ester cleavage (Survey). In: Boyer PD, et al. (eds) The enzymes, 2nd edn. Academic Press, New York, pp 3–35
Schutter ME, Sandeno JM, Dick RP (2001) Seasonal, soil type, alternative management influences on microbial communities of vegetable cropping systems. Biol Fertil Soils 34:397–410
Skujins J (1976) Extracellular enzymes in soil. CRC Crit Rev Microbiol 4:383–421
Sparling GP (1997) Soil microbial biomass, activity and nutrient cycling as indicators of soil health. In: Pankhurst CE, Doube BM, Gupta, VVSR (eds) Biological indicators of soil health. CAB, Wallingford, pp 97–119
Stevenson FJ (1994) Humus chemistry: genesis, composition, reactions, 2nd edn. Wiley, Chichester
Tabatabai MA (1994) Soil enzymes. In: Weaver RW, Angle JS, Bottomley PS (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Microbiological and biochemical properties. SSSA book series no. 5. SSSA, Madison, Wis., pp 775–833
Turco RF, Kennedy AC, Jawson MD (1994) Microbial indicators of soil quality. In: Doran JW, Coleman DC, Bezdicek DF, Stewart BD (eds) Defining soil quality for a sustainable environment. SSSA special publication 35. SSSA, ASA, Madison, Wis., pp 73–90
Zelles L, Rackwitz R, Bai QY, Beck T, Beese F (1995) Discrimination of microbial diversity by fatty acids profiles of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides in differently cultivated soils. Plant Soil 170:115–122
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Sally Officer (postdoctoral research associate, Texas Agricultural Experiment Extension) and Mr Thomas W. Popham (statistician, USDA-ARS Southern Plains Area biometrician) for their assistance with the multivariate statistical analyses.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Trade names and company names are included for the benefit of the reader and do not infer any endorsement or preferential treatment of the product by USDA-ARS
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Acosta-Martínez, V., Zobeck, T.M., Gill, T.E. et al. Enzyme activities and microbial community structure in semiarid agricultural soils. Biol Fertil Soils 38, 216–227 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-003-0626-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-003-0626-1