Biological activity of sod-podzolic soils in the long term experiment with different agrotechnical methods

Abstract

The effect of long-term application of grain-fallow-plow crop rotation with various legume densities, permanent cultivation of winter rye and barley, continuous bare fallow on the ecological and physiological state of the microbial community of sod-podzolic heavy loam soil was investigated. Biological activity indexes of soil microbiocenoses such as potential intensity of СО2 emission, microbial biomass gross respiration rate, metabolic coefficient, nitrogen fixation were assessed. It has been shown that the best humus state of soil and significant increase in the total nitrogen content provides the introduction of organic fertilizer (manure) in the “Crop rotation of 28,6% of legumes”. The ratio of the microbial biomass in sod-podzolic heavy loam soil organic matter varies from 1,50 to 3,24%. Application of mineral fertilizers leads to insignificant decrease in the carbon content of microbial biomass and raising of labile organic carbon. The decrease of metabolic activity in microbial communities has been determined in all variants of long-term study regardless of agrotechnical techniques. It has been established that permanent intensive cultivation of crops either with or without crop rotation leads to stability interference of the Cis-Urals soil microbiocenosis.

Exploring the Influence of Diverse Viticultural Systems on Soil Health Metrics in the Northern Black Sea Region

“…Our investigations of the soil microbiota respiratory activity in ampelocenoses revealed substantial differences in the ecophysiological status of the soil microbiome in vineyards, depending on the land-use system. It has been suggested that the activity of soil microbiocenoses is more dependent on the total pool of organic carbon [71]. According to our findings, the organic carbon content in soils of organic farms was, on average, 0.7% and 0.8% lower than in the soils of traditional farms and fallow lands, respectively.…”

“…According to Kovalevskaya et al [71], the conversion of arable to fallow soils led to the accumulation of organic matter in the upper soil horizons, which in turn contributed to the increased respiratory activity of soils and increased microbial carbon stocks. Our findings demonstrated that the C org content in fallow soils was indeed higher than in conventional and organic farm soils, but this did not lead to improved microbial activity indicators.…”