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SOC and TN fluctuations determine the variations in microbial enzymatic activities under diverse land use types in the Central Himalaya, India.

Authors :
Vikram, Krati
Chaudhary, Hina
Rao, K.S.
Source :
CATENA. May2024, Vol. 240, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

[Display omitted] • Soil properties and enzymatic activities varied across land use types and villages. • Agroforestry establishment accelerated soil enzymatic activities by 39.41–90.17%. • Cultivation caused massive decline in level and variability of enzymatic activities. • Climate, vegetation, and management practices determined the enzymatic activities. Soil microbial enzymatic activities, often used as indicators of soil health and fertility, are vulnerable to changes in climate and anthropogenic activities. This study analyses the responses of specific soil enzymatic activities– dehydrogenase (DHA), acid phosphatase (APH), β-glucosidase (BG) and urease (URE)– in Nitosols/Luvisols of the subtropical zone of the Central Himalaya, India. We investigated how these enzymatic activities vary with different land uses: arable land (AL), kitchen garden (KG) and peach orchard (PO), across four villages– Niglat, Kainchidham, Majhera and Syalikhet. Considering associated management practices, we quantified cumulative average soil enzymatic activities for the rabi season (2017–2018). In general, catalytic activity of the selected enzymes was highest in Syalikhet and lowest in Majhera. However, for land use types, enzymatic activities were lower in AL and KG (75.56–90.17% and 39.41–61.72%, respectively) compared to PO values. MANOVA analysis evaluated significant spatial differences (P < 0.001) in enzymatic activities. Soil enzymatic mean values were highest in the surface layer (0–10 cm) and decreased gradually with increasing depth. Parameters such as soil moisture content (SMC) and pH, along with vegetation, management practices, and nutrients such as SOC, TN, K, AP, and N forms (NH 4 +–N and NO 3 ––N) showed significant and strong correlations with all the soil enzyme activities (r = 0.40–0.97; P < 0.05). TN, SOC, K, SMC, pH, AP, NH 4 +- N, and clay content were key determining factors of soil enzymatic activities, explaining approximately 59% of the variation. These results suggest that using soil microbial enzymatic activities as soil quality indicators is a feasible approach to assess the impacts of vegetation, management practices, and soil profile depths in soils under different land use types/systems in selected impoverished villages of the fragile Central Himalaya, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
03418162
Volume :
240
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
CATENA
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
176630347
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2024.107958