Different effects of litter and root inputs on soil enzyme activities in terrestrial ecosystems

Ai, Ling; Wu, Fuzhong; Fan, Xiangtao; Yang, Ying; Zheng, Xiaping; Zhu, Jingjing; Ni, Xiangyin

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2022.104764

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite no differences in microbial abundance between our treatments, we did observe greater overall extracellular enzyme activity in dead mulch and vegetative cover plots at the last cash crop harvest. This result suggests improved nutrient recycling within these management strategies compared to cultivation (Xiao et al, 2018), and aligns with a meta-analysis that found removal of plant litter and living roots reduces extracellular enzyme activity in agroecosystems (Ai et al, 2023). This also provides some evidence for improved soil health, although additional time may be needed to realize and detect benefits.…”

Section: Soil Health and Nutrient Cycling Indicatorssupporting

confidence: 81%

Weed control, soil health, and yield tradeoffs of between-bed management strategies in organic plasticulture vegetable production

Tarrant,

Brainard,

Tiemann

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Planting a cover crop living mulch between plastic mulch beds in fresh market vegetable production can reduce soil erosion and runoff, and offers an opportunity to grow an income generating cash crop alongside a soil building cover crop. However, potential negative impacts on yield, variable weed control, unclear impacts on soil health, and limited management recommendations challenge adoption of this practice, despite grower interest. In a two-year study in southwest Michigan, living mulches were evaluated in the production of plasticulture organic summer squash (Cucurbita pepo cv. Lioness) and bell pepper (Capsicum annuum cv. Paladin). Strategies evaluated included three common grower practices (cultivation, dead straw mulch, mowing ambient weeds) and three mowed living mulch treatments (Italian ryegrass [Lolium multiflorum] monoculture, rye [Secale cereale] monoculture, and a Dutch white clover [Trifolium repens]/rye mixture). We determined the impact of these strategies on weed control, organic matter inputs, vegetable crop performance, nitrogen retention, and soil microbial communities. We found that cultivation and dead mulch provided superior in-season weed control, reducing weed biomass by an average of 86% compared to 18% among living mulch treatments, with associated reductions in the weed seedbank compared to living mulches and mowed weeds. In most cases, living mulch establishment was a challenge and weed biomass on average accounted for 99, 74, and 94% of organic matter inputs in rye, ryegrass, and clover/rye treatments, respectively. Squash performance was unaffected by our treatments, but pepper yield reductions ranged from 41 to 54% in all treatments relative to cultivation in one of two years. Living mulches and the weedy treatment showed the ability to reduce end-of-season potentially leachable nitrogen by 61% compared to cultivation and dead mulching. Soil microbial abundance and functional diversity were similar across treatments, but extracellular enzyme activity was higher in dead mulch, living mulch and weedy treatments compared to cultivation. Results from this study help quantify tradeoffs between common grower practices for managing weeds and soil between plastic mulch beds, highlight key challenges with living mulch alternatives, and identify areas for future research.

show abstract

Section: Soil Health and Nutrient Cycling Indicatorssupporting

confidence: 81%

Weed control, soil health, and yield tradeoffs of between-bed management strategies in organic plasticulture vegetable production

Tarrant,

Brainard,

Tiemann

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Soil enzymes are involved in the decomposition of plant litter and soil organic matter, and their activities play a key role in soil carbon and nutrient cycling. Therefore, soil enzyme activities are important indexes for assessing soil quality [23]. In the process of plant growth, plants can affect soil enzyme activity through root secretions due to environmental influences, which in turn change soil nutrient cycling [24].…”

Section: Analysis Of Enzyme Activity In Tea Rhizosphere Soilmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Rock Zones and Tea Tree Varieties on the Growth and Quality of Wuyi Rock Tea Based on the OPLS-DA Model and Machine Learning

Ye,

Zhang,

Jia

et al. 2024

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rock zones have an important influence on the yield and quality of Wuyi rock tea. In this study, OPLS-DA combined with machine learning was used to analyze the effects of different rock zones and tea tree varieties on the physicochemical properties of rhizosphere soil, the growth of the tea tree and the quality of the tea leaves using tea trees in different rock zones. The results showed that rock zones had significant effects on rhizosphere soil physicochemical indexes, soil enzyme activities, tea tree growth and tea quality indexes, while there was little difference between different tea tree varieties. The interaction analysis showed that the physicochemical indexes of rhizosphere soil in different rock zones significantly affected tea quality, while also affecting growth indexes. The main indexes affecting tea yield and caffeine content were soil pH, available nitrogen, total phosphorus, total nitrogen and available phosphorus, while the main indexes affecting tea quality were available potassium, organic matter, total potassium, protease, polyphenol oxidase and urease. Analyses of PCA, OPLS-DA models and KNN and ANN machine learning showed that different rock zones could be effectively distinguished from each other with 100% accuracy, while different tea varieties had little difference and could not be distinguished. TOPSIS analysis found that the physicochemical indexes most affected by rock zone were available nitrogen, available potassium and sucrose, and the quality indexes most affected by rock zone were tea polyphenols and theanine. The growth index most affected by rock zone was tea yield. It was evident that the key difference between tea trees in different rock zones was yield and quality, with high yields in continent zones, and good quality in semi-rock zones and rock zones. This study provides a crucial foundation for tea-plantation management, the artificial regulation of tea yield and the quality of different rock zones of Wuyi rock tea.

show abstract

“…The reduction of plant roots often leads to a decreased in soil enzyme activity (Xiao et al, 2015), and a weakening effect of roots on N-cycle enzyme activity in deep soils (Enriquez et al, 2015). In addition, the presence of apoplast and humus in the surface layer increases the content of soil organic matter, which acts as a precursor for enzyme synthesis Song et al, 2014;Ai et al, 2023). Furthermore, the concentration of enzyme substrates is more abundant in the surface soil layer than in deep layers (Niemi et al, 2005), which further reduces soil enzyme activity (Acosta-Martıńez et al, 2006).…”

Section: Response Of Soil N-cycle Enzyme Activities To Soil Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of soil N-cycle enzyme activities to vegetation degradation in a wet meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Chang,

Ma,

Song

et al. 2023

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil enzymes play a vital role in the functioning of wetland ecosystems, driving energy flow and material cycling processes. Gahai wet meadow, one of the important components of alpine wetlands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has suffered serious degradation in the last 30 years due to climate change and human activities. We studied the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of soil nitrogen content and nitrogen (N)-cycle enzyme activities (i.e., urease, protease, nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase) in four degraded wet meadows in the Gahai wetlands. Our results suggested that with increasing wet meadow degradation, there was a significant decrease in soil water content, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen content, protease activities, and nitrite reductase activities; Conversely, soil temperature, nitrate nitrogen content, urease activities, and nitrate reductase activities increased significantly. Soil urease, protease, and nitrite reductase activities significantly decreased with increasing soil depth;The highest activity levels of the three N-cycle enzymes were observed in July and August. The linear mixed modeling results indicated that there were significant effects of degradation level and soil depth and their interactions on soil nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase activities (p < 0.01), while soil depth had significant effects only on soil urease and protease activities (p < 0.01). Redundancy analyses showed that soil ammonium and nitrate nitrogen were the main drivers of changes in soil N-cycle enzyme activity during the degradation of wet meadows. In summary, our study sheds light on the processes of soil enzyme activity in an alpine wetland ecosystem and provides valuable information for understanding the N cycling in these complex systems.

show abstract

Different effects of litter and root inputs on soil enzyme activities in terrestrial ecosystems

Cited by 21 publications

References 51 publications

Weed control, soil health, and yield tradeoffs of between-bed management strategies in organic plasticulture vegetable production

Weed control, soil health, and yield tradeoffs of between-bed management strategies in organic plasticulture vegetable production

The Effects of Rock Zones and Tea Tree Varieties on the Growth and Quality of Wuyi Rock Tea Based on the OPLS-DA Model and Machine Learning

Responses of soil N-cycle enzyme activities to vegetation degradation in a wet meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About