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Soil biodiversity plays a key role in the sustainability of agriculture systems and indicates the level of health of soil, especially when considering the richness of microorganisms that are involved in biological control of soilborne diseases. Cultural practices may produce changes in soil microflora, which can be quantified through the isolation of target microorganisms. Rhizosphere soil samples were taken from an assay with different crop rotations and tillage systems, and populations of Trichoderma spp., Gliocladium spp. and actinomycetes were quantified in order to select the general and selective culture media that better reflect the changes of these microbial populations in soil. The most efficient medium for the isolation of Trichoderma spp. and Gliocladium spp. was potato dextrose agar modified by the addition of chloramphenicol, streptomycin and rose bengal, and for actinomycetes was Küster medium, with cycloheximide and sodium propionate.

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Bean seedlings (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were transplanted to soil with corn previous crop residue, peanut previous crop residue and no agricultural soil, and treated with a range of glyphosate concentrations. Trichoderma, Gliocladium, Fusarium and Pythium soil-borne fungi populations were monitored during 24 days after glyphosate treatment to study the glyphosate and previous crop residue effects on these populations. In addition, those genera of soil-borne fungi were tested to study in vitro toxicity to glyphosate. Independently of glyphosate concentration, the highest population of Trichoderma spp. and Gliocladium spp. were registered on soil with previous corn residue. Fusarium and Pythium populations increased proportionally to the increment of glyphosate concentration. No effect of glyphosate was founded on Trichoderma and Gliocladium populations. The in vitro study results indicated an inhibitory effect of glyphosate on mycelial grown of the most studied soil-borne fungi.www.blackwell-synergy.com

Soil microbiological and chemical aspects were evaluated to determine the effects of conservation tillage and crop rotation on soil fertility over a 16-year period. A field trial was established to compare two cropping systems (continuous soybean and maize/soybean, soybean/maize rotation). In addition, maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L., Merr) were grown in two different tillage systems: no tillage and reduced tillage. Soil populations of Trichoderma spp., Gliocladium spp. and total fungi were more abundant when maize or soybean were under conservation tillage and in the maize/soybean and soybean/ maize rotation, than in continuous soybean. Furthermore, higher levels of microbial respiration and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis (FDA), were recorded under no tillage systems. However, soil counts of Actinomycetes and Pythium spp., and Pythium diversity together with soil microbial biomass were not affected by the field treatments. To establish a correlation with soil biological factors, soil chemical parameters, such as pH, organic matter content, total N, electrical conductivity, N-NO 3 -and P were also quantified, most of the correlations being significantly positive. Under no tillage there was a clear increase of the amount of crop residues and the C and N soil content due to the presence of residues. Also the distribution of crop residues in surface soil due to zero tillage and the quality of these residues, depending on the crop rotation employed, improved on soil biological and chemical characteristics. Crop yield was also enhanced by zero tillage through the management of residues. Although yield values were not directly associated with the development of microorganisms, both yield and microorganisms were influenced by crop management. These results suggest that measuring soil properties over a long period helps to define effective management strategies in order to preserve soil conditions.