Assessment the effect of Slope aspect and position on some soil microbial indices in rangeland and forest

Assessment of soil quality is an invaluable tool in determining the sustainability and environmental impact of agricultural ecosystems. Soil microbial indices like microbial biomass and microbial activity are important criteria for the determination of soil quality. Laboratory incubation study was undertaken to examine the influence of eight crop residues widely varying in biochemical composition on the periodic changes in important soil microbial indices {(microbial (Cmic: Corg), metabolic (qCO2), carbon mineralization (qC) and microbial biomass change rate (qM) quotients)} at 28 days and 63 days after incubation (DAI) in a sandy loam soil. A. sativa amended soil showed maximum soil respiration rate (14.23 mg CO2-C g-1 soil day-1) whereas T. aestivum amended soil showed maximum microbial biomass C (790 µg/g). The metabolic quotient among different crop residues ranged from 11.1 to 19.8 μg CO2-C μg-biomass-C-1 h-1 at 63 DAI. The results indicate that incorporation of different crop residues has positive effect on microbial flora and their activity. Microbial quotient (Cmic:Corg) was significantly positively correlated with microbial biomass carbon (MBC), qC and qM. The study suggests that the biochemical composition of different crop residues seems to be of better option for long term sustainable crop production with maintenance of soil quality in a sandy loam soil.

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Relationships Between Soil Microbial Communities and Plant Communities on Different Slope Aspects in a Subalpine Coniferous Forest

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1177449/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Luoshu He ◽

Suhui Ma ◽

Jiangling Zhu ◽

Xinyu Xiong ◽

Yangang Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Community ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Basal Area ◽

Coniferous Forests ◽

Slope Aspect ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Plant Soil ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Purpose The local microclimate of different slope aspects in the same area can not only impact soil environment and plant community but also affect soil microbial community. However, the relationship between aboveground plant communities and belowground soil microbial communities on various slope aspects has not been well understood.Methods We investigated the above- and belowground relationship on different slope aspects and explored how soil properties influence this relationship. Plant community attributes were evaluated by plant species richness and plant total basal area. Soil microbial community was assessed based on both 16S rRNA and ITS rRNA, using High-throughput Illumina sequencing. Results There was no significant correlation between plant richness and soil bacterial community composition on the north slope, but there was a positive correlation on the south slope and a significantly negative correlation on the flat site. There was a significantly negative correlation between soil fungal community composition and plant total basal area, which did not change with the slope aspect. In addition, there was no significant correlation between plant community species richness and soil microbial species richness.Conclusions In subalpine coniferous forests, the relationship between plant-soil bacteria varies with slope aspect, but the plant-soil fungi relationship is relatively consistent across different slope aspects. These results can improve our understanding of the relationship between plant and soil microorganisms in forest ecosystems under microtopographic changes and have important implications for the conservation of biodiversity and forest management in subalpine coniferous forests.

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Changes in soil microbial indices and their relationships following deforestation and cultivation in wet tropical forests

Applied Soil Ecology ◽

10.1016/s0929-1393(03)00070-2 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 17-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

R. Dinesh ◽

S. Ghoshal Chaudhuri ◽

A.N. Ganeshamurthy ◽

Chanchal Dey

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forests ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Microbial Indices

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Influence of slope aspect on the microbial properties of rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric soils on the Loess Plateau, China

Solid Earth ◽

10.5194/se-9-1157-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 1157-1168 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ze Min Ai ◽

Jiao Yang Zhang ◽

Hong Fei Liu ◽

Sha Xue ◽

Guo Bin Liu

Keyword(s):

Loess Plateau ◽

Phospholipid Fatty Acid ◽

Slope Aspect ◽

Research Station ◽

Rhizospheric Soil ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

The South ◽

Microbial Properties ◽

The North ◽

Microbial Indices

Abstract. Slope aspect is an important topographic factor in the micro-ecosystem environment, but its effect on the microbial properties of grassland rhizospheric soil (RS) and non-rhizospheric soil (NRS) remain unclear. A field experiment was conducted at the Ansai Research Station on the Loess Plateau in China to test the influence of slope aspects (south-facing, north-facing, and northwest-facing slopes, all with Artemisia sacrorum as the dominant species) on RS and NRS microbial biomass carbon (MBC) contents, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) contents, and the rhizospheric effect (RE) of various microbial indices. Soil samples were collected from the three slope aspects, including rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric region, and analyzed to determine the various related microbial indices. The results showed that MBC content differed significantly among the slope aspects in RS but not in NRS, and the RE for MBC content in the south-facing slope was larger than that in the north-facing slope. RS total, bacterial, and Gram-positive bacterial PLFA contents in the south-facing slope were significantly lower than those in the north- and northwest-facing slopes, and RS Gram-negative bacterial (G−) and actinomycete PLFA contents in the south-facing slope were significantly lower than those in the north-facing slope. In contrast, NRS total, bacterial, and G− PLFA contents in the north-facing slope were significantly higher than those in the south- and northwest-facing slopes, and NRS fungal and actinomycete PLFA contents in the north- and south-facing slopes were significantly higher than those in the northwest-facing slope. RE for all PLFA contents except fungal in the northwest-facing slope were higher than those in the south-facing slope. Slope aspect significantly but differentially affected the microbial properties in RS and NRS, and the variable influence was due to an evident RE for most microbial properties.

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