“…I. cellulose, the evolution of CO 2 which had proceeded similarly to that in the control plots started to increase after 4 weeks. In the soil incubated with the addition of cellulose a correlation was observed between the rate of CO 2 -evolution and total viable bacterial counts as CFU but not between that of CO 2 -evolution and the numbers of cellulose-decomposing microorganisms (MPN) (Sato et al 1984). In the present study the total viable bacterial counts continued to increase gradually in the plots treated with cellulose after 3-4 weeks in contrast to the other plots where the counts decreased or remained constant.…”