scholarly journals Effect of Natural Aging of Biochar on Soil Enzymatic Activity and Physicochemical Properties in Long-Term Field Experiment

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Futa ◽  
Patryk Oleszczuk ◽  
Sylwia Andruszczak ◽  
Ewa Kwiecińska-Poppe ◽  
Piotr Kraska

The effect of different rates of biochar on selected soil properties and enzymatic activity 48, 60, and 72 months after biochar application to soil was investigated. Soil enzymatic activity (dehydrogenase—ADh; phosphatase—Aph; urease—AU), the organic carbon content (TOC), the total nitrogen content (Nt), the mineral nitrogen content (NH4+, NO3−), and soil pH were determined. The study was conducted on Haplic Podzol originating from glaciofluvial fine-grained loamy sand. Biochar was applied to soil under winter rye (Secale cereale L.) at rates of 10 (BC10), 20 (BC20), and 30 t ha−1 (BC30). Plots with biochar-unamended soil were the control treatment (BC0). The pH, TOC, and Nt content in the biochar-amended soil were higher compared to the control soil. A broader C:N ratio was found in the BC0 soil compared to BC10, BC20, and BC30. With increasing biochar rate, the content of the ammonium nitrogen form (NH4+) decreased and was statistically lower than in the control soil (BC0). The soil in the BC20 and BC30 treatments was characterized by the highest content of NO3-, whereas the lowest nitrate nitrogen content was found in the control soil (BC0). Biochar application increased soil enzymatic activity. Dehydrogenase activity increased with increasing biochar rate. As far as phosphatase and urease activity is concerned, a similar relationship was not observed. In this case, the soil amended with biochar at a rate of 20 t ha−1 (BC20) was characterized by the highest phosphatase and urease activity.

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1488
Author(s):  
Jarosław Lasota ◽  
Ewa Błońska ◽  
Tomasz Babiak ◽  
Wojciech Piaszczyk ◽  
Hanna Stępniewska ◽  
...  

Relict charcoal hearths (RCHs) increases soil fertility in forest ecosystems. However, the effects of RCHs on the activity and abundance of soil microorganisms remain unknown. In this paper, we analysed the impact of relict charcoal production on the soil enzymatic activity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities in Scots pine forests of the Manowo Forest District in northern Poland. Moreover, we determined the effect of relict charcoal production on the soil properties. Our research was conducted by comparing the physical, chemical, enzymatic and microbiological properties of charcoal-enriched and charcoal-free soils. Significant differences in physical properties were found between these two soil types in terms of their structure and water holding capacity. As expected, horizons enriched with charcoal were characterised by a significantly higher organic carbon content (4.7% on average compared to 2.2% in control horizons), and also by a considerably higher content of available phosphorus (an average of 64.07 mg·kg−1 compared to 36.21 mg·kg−1 in the control). Similarly, RCH horizons displayed a higher pH and higher contents of Ca and Na cations. These results indicated that RCH soils provided more favourable conditions for the soil microbiome, as reflected by the higher enzymatic activity and diversity of the microorganisms. Moreover, bacterial and fungal communities in RCH soils were more diverse and had greater species/genera richness, especially in the case of fungi. Members of the genus Rhodoplanes dominated the bacterial community at both RCH and non-RCH sites, followed by Streptomyces, Burkholderia, Skermanella, Tsukamurella and Candidatus Solibacter. Both culture- and next generation sequencing (NGS)-based analyses showed that soil fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota, with Penicillium as the most abundant genus. Our results showed that hearth soils may represent a significant C pool in the forest ecosystem. This study supports the strategy of safeguarding such charcoal-enriched soils as precious C reservoirs and ecologically important biodiversity hotspots. Moreover, the application of charcoal may effectively increase the microbial diversity of forest soils, especially during the reforestation or re-cultivation of disturbed habitats.


On the grey forest medium-loamy soil of Vladimir Opolye region we have studied the impact of various methods of basic cultivation and fertilizer systems on the activity of redox and hydrolytic enzymes: ure-ase (nitrogen cycle), invertase (carbon cycle), phosphatase (phosphorus cycle), and catalase, involved in the cycle of carbon in the soil. The second humus horizon with capacity of 19-24cm was found at the depth of 20 - 21 cm on the experimental field. We have studied three modes of basic soil cultivation: an-nual shallow flat plowing (6-8 cm), annual deep flat plowing (20-22 cm), and annual moldboard plowing (20-22 cm) with normal and intensive application of fertilizers. The most enzymatically active layer is 0-20 cm. No relevant difference has been found in the level of enzymes activity between variants of basic soil treatment. Activity of enzymes increases with application of fertilizers on the intensive background. In agrogenic soils, soil enzymatic activity is lower on average by 16-22% compared to the soil of the res-ervoir. The biggest negative transformation of activity has been observed at the urease enzyme (up to 50%). With annual moldboard plowing on the intensive backgroung, enzyme activity has been close to the natural level – 98.4%. Catalise and invertase activity in this case were found to be higher (105 and 116% respectively) than that of natural analogues. Activity of enzymes increases with intensive application of fertilizers as compared with normal background. This is particularly evident with 6-8cm deep beardless plowing and 20-22cm deep moldboard plowing. In general, the obtained biochemical indicators charac-terize the highest environmental sustainability of this variation within our research.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1970
Author(s):  
Barbara Sawicka ◽  
Barbara Krochmal-Marczak ◽  
Piotr Pszczółkowski ◽  
Elżbieta Jolanta Bielińska ◽  
Anna Wójcikowska-Kapusta ◽  
...  

The experiment was conducted between 2015–2017 in the Research Station for Cultivar Testing in Uhnin (51°34′ N, 23°02′ E), in Luvisols developed from sandy loam soils. Soil samples for the tests of enzymatic activity were collected after the crop was harvested. The measurements included: the content of dehydrogenases, phosphatases, urease and protease, as well as total organic carbon, total nitrogen and mineral nitrogen in soil, based on standard methods. The research results point to changes in the enzymatic activity of light soil under the influence of varied nitrogen fertilization. In objects fertilized with this ingredient, the activity of the analysed enzymes was significantly higher than in the control soil, except for combinations fertilised with 150 kg ha−1 N characterised by the highest accumulation of N-NO3− in soil. The activity of dehydrogenases, phosphatases and urease changed as the nitrogen dose increased. The polynomial regression analysis enabled a better understanding of those dependences. In the case of dehydrogenases, phosphatases and urease, a third-degree curvilinear relation of enzymatic activity to nitrogen fertilisation was observed (a fourth-degree relation was found, with a coefficient R2 in those equations amounting to =0.958, 0.977, 0.979, respectively) and in the case of protease activity, a fourth-degree relation, with coefficient R2 = 0.989. However, soil acidity did not have a significant influence on either the enzymatic activity or physico-chemical characteristics of soil under the cultivation of sweet potatoes. The C:N ratio turned out to be significantly negatively related to the content of the enzymes dehydrogenase (Adh), phosphatase (AF), urease (AU) and protease (AP) as well as the content of total nitrogen, especially its ammonium form (N-NH4). The obtained results indicate the usefulness of research on enzymatic activity as an indicator of soil reaction to nitrogen fertilization and will enable maintenance of the optimal biological balance of cultivated soils.


Author(s):  
E.S. Fedorenko ◽  
◽  
V.V., Zinchenko ◽  
A.V. Gorovtsov ◽  
T.M Minkina

The influence of carbon sorbent on enzymatic activity of Haplic Chernozem was studied in the conditions of model contamination with copper acetate. An ambiguous effect of granulated activated carbon applied in different doses on urease activity was found.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (3 (253)) ◽  
pp. 235-245
Author(s):  
K.A. Ghazaryan ◽  
H.S. Movsesyan

The aim of this study was to define a relationship between heavy metal (Cu, Mo) pollution of soil and various extracellular enzyme activities. Six enzymatic activities involved in cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur (β-glucosidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid phosphomonoesterase, alkaline phosphomonoesterase, and arylsulphatase) as well as microbial biomass were determined in soil samples collected in the surroundings of Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine. The investigations showed that pollution of soil with copper and molybdenum led to a decrease in microbial biomass and soil enzymatic activity, which in turn had a negative impact on cycles of chemical elements, in particular C, P, N and S. This gives reason to conclude that the changes in soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity may act as indicators of soil biological activity and quality.


Author(s):  
Maria- Mihaela MICUȚI ◽  
Liliana BĂDULESCU ◽  
Florentina ISRAEL-ROMING

The focus of this article is to provide informations about soil enzymatic activity as a biological indicator for impacts of pesticides on soils. In this experiment, an ecological soil was treated with two types of fungicide (Ridomil Gold and Bravo 500) and two of insecticides (Mospilan 20SG and Vertimec 1.8% EC). The pesticides were assessed for their effect on different enzymatic activities. They were administrated over a 28 days period and the samples of soil were taken once every 7 days and analyzed in the laboratory. For each sample was determined the enzymatic activity, pH, humidity. The enzymatic activity was assessed using colorimetrical methods. Enzymes chosen for this study were cellulase, amylase, xylanase, urease, alkaline and acid phosphatase. Results shown that the enzymatic activity can increase or decrease when the soil was treated with the fungicides and insecticides chosen for this experiment.


1940 ◽  
Vol 18c (4) ◽  
pp. 136-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Newton ◽  
R. S. Young

Proximate analyses of roots (to plow depth) and stubble in one-, three-, and five-year-old sods, considered in relation to sequence effects as judged by the nitrogen absorption of the first two wheat crops after each age of sod, indicated the nitrogen content of the hay crop residues to be the dominant influence. Alfalfa was much superior to the grasses, a result apparently of the higher quantity of nitrogen returned to the soil and of the narrower C:N ratio in its residues. Timothy led the grasses, contributing the highest quantity of nitrogen in residues with the lowest percentage of crude fibre and the narrowest ratio of crude fibre to nitrogen-free extract. Brome contributed more residual nitrogen than western rye, but was slightly inferior in sequence effects.


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