The impact of crop plant cultivation and peat amendment on soil microbial activity and structure

Vepsäläinen, Milja; Erkomaa, Kirsti; Kukkonen, Sanna; Vestberg, Mauritz; Wallenius, Kaisa; Niemi, R. Maarit

doi:10.1023/b:plso.0000047763.46795.cb

Cited by 49 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The studies of Elfstrand et al (2007) and Vepsäläinen et al (2004) found that the quality of organic amendments had a strong effect on PLFA profiles. In this study, compost treatments possessed a higher abundance of bacteria; the higher rate of chemical N fertilizer applied to the compost treatment (Comp + 2/3 N treatment) resulted in lowering the microbial population (Table 7).…”

Section: Microbial Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of long-term treatments of different organic fertilizers complemented with chemical N fertilizer on the chemical and biological properties of soils

Chang

Wang

Chen

et al. 2014

Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

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Continuous cultivation has been known to decrease soil organic matter content. Application of organic matter to cultivated soil is an important practice from the point of view of maintaining an adequate amount of soil organic matter. Soil organic matter content significantly affects soil microbial activity, which is an important index of soil quality. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to examine the long-term effects of different kinds of organic matter in combination with inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer on chemical and biological properties of soils. There were seven treatments, namely (1) The results showed that compared with CK and Chem-N treatments, applications of compost and peat increased soil organic carbon (SOC) content and altered microbial activities and microbial community structure. However, application of green manure for 12 years had no effect on SOC content. Both microbial activities and PLFA profiles were clearly dependent on the characteristics of the applied organic amendments. In summary, a peat application led to the highest increase in SOC content compared to compost and green manure; however, compost-treated soil had a higher microbial population and higher microbial and enzyme activities, while the effects of both green manure and chemical N fertilizer on soil properties were similar.

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Section: Microbial Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of long-term treatments of different organic fertilizers complemented with chemical N fertilizer on the chemical and biological properties of soils

Chang

Wang

Chen

et al. 2014

Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

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“…From the available literature, it remains unclear, whether the anaerobic digestion itself or changes in the cropping system such as changes in the crop acreage and crop diversity triggered by the implementation of the biogas plants are the main driving factors for any changes in soil microbial or soil physical properties. All these factors will potentially affect soil microbial population and activity, as well as the soil fauna composition (Zak et al 2003;Vepsäläinen et al 2004). From a methodological point of view, any assessment of potential effects of the implementation of anaerobic digestion should take into consideration the system boundaries as well as the overall mass flows affected by the entire treatment chain.…”

Section: Effects Of Anaerobic Digestion On Soil Properties and Soil Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of anaerobic digestion on soil carbon and nitrogen turnover, N emissions, and soil biological activity. A review

Möller¹

2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

240

139

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Sustainability in agriculture means the inclusion of several aspects, as sustainable agriculture systems must not compromise not only their ability to satisfy future needs by undermining soil fertility and the natural resource base but also sustainable agriculture has had to address a range of other issues including energy use, efficient use, and recycling of nutrients, the effects on adjacent ecosystems including the effects on water bodies and climate change. Organic manures are an important factor to keep the soil fertility level of soils. However, their management is often related to large emissions. In this context, anaerobic digestion is-similarly to composting-a treatment option for stabilization of biogenic wastes leading to a residual product called digestates, enabling the sanitation and the recycling and use as fertilizer. It is also a means to obtain energy from wastes as well as from dedicated energy crops. Therefore, anaerobic digestion potentially addresses several aspects of agricultural sustainability. This review discusses the current state of knowledge on the effects of anaerobic digestion on organic compounds in digestates and the most important processes influencing N emissions in the field, as well as the possible longterm effects on soil microbial biomass and soil fertility. The main findings are that (1) the direct effects of anaerobic digestion on long-term sustainability in terms of soil fertility and environmental impact at the field level are of minor relevance. (2) The most relevant effects of anaerobic digestion on soil fertility as well as on N emissions will be expected from indirect effects related to cropping system changes such as changes in crop rotation, crop acreage, cover cropping, and total amounts of organic manures including digestates. Furthermore, (3) the remaining organic fraction after anaerobic digestion is much more recalcitrant than the input feedstocks leading to a stabilization of the organic matter and a lower organic matter degradation rate after field application, enabling a similar reproduction of the soil organic matter as obtained by direct application of the feedstock or by composting of the feedstock. (4) Regarding emissions, the main direct effect of anaerobic digestion on a farm level is the influence on gaseous emissions during manure or digestate treatment and handling, whereas the direct effects of anaerobic digestion on a field level on emissions (NH 3 − and N 2 O − emissions, NO 3 -leaching) are negligible or at least ambiguous. (5) The main direct effects of anaerobic digestion on the field level are short-term effects on soil microbial activity and changes in the soil microbial community. Therefore, in terms of the effects on agricultural sustainability, potential cropping system-based changes induced by introduction of biogas plants are probably much more relevant for the overall performance and sustainability of the cropping system than the direct effects triggered by application of digestates in comparison to the undigested feedstock...

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“…PA were assayed according to Vepsäläinen et al (2004), using the ZymProfiler® test kit. Substrates used for the assays are listed in Table 2.…”

Section: Potential Activities (Pa)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By this we aimed to capture both spatial (litter type) and temporal (decomposition stage) variation in microbial activity. The selection of C-, N-and P-acquiring enzymes was based on previous studies, aiming to include enzymes that play principal roles in the process of organic matter decomposition (e.g., Sinsabaugh, 1994;Allison and Vitousek, 2004;Vepsäläinen et al, 2004;Fenner et al, 2005b;Rejmánková and Sirová, 2007). Additionally, we included the S-acquiring enzyme arylsulphatase, an important enzyme of wetland soils (Kang and Freeman, 1999;Rejmánková and Sirová, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Litter type affects the activity of aerobic decomposers in a boreal peatland more than site nutrient and water table regimes

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Peatlands are carbon (C) storage ecosystems sustained by a high water table (WT). High WT creates anoxic conditions that suppress the activity of aerobic decomposers and provide conditions for peat accumulation. Peatland function can be dramatically affected by WT drawdown caused by climate and/or land-use change. Aerobic decomposers are directly affected by WT drawdown through environmental factors such as increased oxygenation and nutrient availability. Additionally, they are indirectly affected via changes in plant community composition and litter quality. We studied the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of WT drawdown on aerobic decomposer activity in plant litter at two stages of decomposition (incubated in the field for 1 or 2 years). We did this by profiling 11 extracellular enzymes involved in the mineralization of organic C, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur. Our study sites represented a three-stage chronosequence from pristine to shortterm (years) and long-term (decades) WT drawdown conditions under two nutrient regimes (bog and fen). The litter types included reflected the prevalent vegetation: Sphagnum mosses, graminoids, shrubs and trees.Litter type was the main factor shaping microbial activity patterns and explained about 30 % of the variation in enzyme activities and activity allocation. Overall, enzyme activities were higher in vascular plant litters compared to Sphagnum litters, and the allocation of enzyme activities towards C or nutrient acquisition was related to the initial litter quality Correspondence to: P. Straková (petra.strakova@helsinki.fi) (chemical composition). Direct effects of WT regime, site nutrient regime and litter decomposition stage (length of incubation period) summed to only about 40 % of the litter type effect. WT regime alone explained about 5 % of the variation in enzyme activities and activity allocation. Generally, enzyme activity increased following the long-term WT drawdown and the activity allocation turned from P and N acquisition towards C acquisition. This caused an increase in the rate of litter decomposition. The effects of the shortterm WT drawdown were minor compared to those of the long-term WT drawdown: e.g., the increase in the activity of C-acquiring enzymes was up to 120 % (bog) or 320 % (fen) higher after the long-term WT drawdown compared to the short-term WT drawdown. In general, the patterns of microbial activity as well as their responses to WT drawdown depended on peatland type: e.g., the shift in activity allocation to C-acquisition was up to 100 % stronger at the fen compared to the bog.Our results imply that changes in plant community composition in response to persistent WT drawdown will strongly affect the C dynamics of peatlands. The predictions of decomposer activity under changing climate and/or land-use thus cannot be based on the direct effects of the changed environment only, but need to consider the indirect effects of environmental changes: the changes in plant community composition, their dependen...

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The impact of crop plant cultivation and peat amendment on soil microbial activity and structure

Cited by 49 publications

References 43 publications

Effects of long-term treatments of different organic fertilizers complemented with chemical N fertilizer on the chemical and biological properties of soils

Effects of long-term treatments of different organic fertilizers complemented with chemical N fertilizer on the chemical and biological properties of soils

Effects of anaerobic digestion on soil carbon and nitrogen turnover, N emissions, and soil biological activity. A review

Litter type affects the activity of aerobic decomposers in a boreal peatland more than site nutrient and water table regimes

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