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Effect of tillage and residue management on enzyme activities in soils

I. Amidohydrolases

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Abstract

Recent interest in soil tillage and residue management has focused on low-input sustainable agriculture. In this study we investigated the effect of three tillage systems (no-till, chisel plow, and moldboard plow) and four residue placements (bare, normal, mulch, and double mulch) on the activities of four amidohydrolases (amidase, L-asparaginase, L-glutaminase, and urease) in soils from four replicated field-plots. Correlation coefficients (r) for linear regressions between the activities of each of the enzymes and organic C or pH and between all possible paired amidohydrolases were also calculated. The results showed that the effects of tillage and residue management on pH in the 28 surface soil (0–15 cm) samples were not significant. The organic C content, however, was affected significantly by the different tillage and residue-management practices studied, being the greatest in soils with notill/double mulch treatment, and the least with no-till/bare and moldboard/normal treatments. Within the same tillage system, mulch treatment resulted in greater organic C content compared with normal or bare treatment. The activities of the amidohydrolases studied were generally greater in mulch-treated plots than in non-treated plots, and were significantly correlated with organic C contents of soils, with r values ranging from 0.70*** to 0.90***. Linear regression analyses of enzyme activities on pH values (in 0.01 M CaCl2) of the 28 surface soils showed significant correlations for L-asparaginase, L-glutaminase, and urease, with r values of 0.74***, 0.77***, and 0.72***, respectively, but not for amidase (r=0.24). The activities of the four amidohydrolases studied in the 40 soil samples tested were significantly intercorrelated, with r values ranging from 0.72*** to 0.92***. The activities of the four amidohydrolases decreased with increasing soil depth of the plow layer, and were accompanied by a decrease in organic C content.

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Deng, S.P., Tabatabai, M.A. Effect of tillage and residue management on enzyme activities in soils. Biol Fert Soils 22, 202–207 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382513

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382513

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