Effects of living mulches on the soil nutrient contents, enzyme activities, and bacterial community diversities of apple orchard soils

Qian, Xiaoqing; Gu, Jie; Pan, Hongjia; Zhang, Kai-yu; Sun, Wei; Wang, Xiaojuan; Gao, Hua

doi:10.1016/j.ejsobi.2015.06.005

Cited by 107 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(40 reference statements)

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“…Soil enzymes, such as invertase, urease and acid phosphatase, played important roles in maintaining and increasing soil fertility, and they were involved in the cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus [39,40]. Our research showed that M1 had promoting effects on the soil enzyme activity levels compared to M2 and M3.…”

Section: Mulching Management and Soil Enzyme Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…These results were consistent with the results obtained by Guo et al [41] in Phyllostachys praecox forests. The enhancement in M1 probably occurred because of the increase of soil moisture, soil nutrient levels and root exudates [39,42]. However, soil acidification and the imbalance of nutrients' proportion may show a great depression effect on soil microbial biomass in M3 [41].…”

Section: Mulching Management and Soil Microbial Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of Soil Degradation Causes in Phyllostachys edulis Forests with Different Mulching Years

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2018

Forests

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Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis (Carrière) J.Houz.) is famous for its fast growth and biomass accumulation, as well as high annual output for timber and bamboo shoots. Organic mulches are widely used to improve shoots' production in moso bamboo forests. However, continuous mulching management may cause bamboo forest degradation and affect sustainable development. The objective of this study was to identify the degradation mechanism and to provide a theoretical basis for recovery. A complete randomized block design with four treatments was conducted, including mulching for one year (M1), two years (M2), three years (M3) and no-mulching management (NM). Soil nutrient contents, enzyme activities and microbial biomass were determined. With the increase of mulching years, the soil pH value gradually reduced, causing soil acidification, but the content of soil organic matter was inclined to ascend. Soil total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) contents showed an increasing trend, and they were significantly higher in mulching stands than those in NM (p < 0.05). Contents of soil available nutrients (AN, AP and AK) increased, then decreased with the increase of mulching years and peaked in M1. With the increase of mulching years, the soil stoichiometry ratio (C/N, C/P and N/P) gradually increased. Soil invertase, urease and acid phosphatase activities presented a single-peak curve and reached the maximum within one year after mulching. Total microbial biomass and that of individual groups changed greatly after mulching. Soil microbial biomass increased first and then decreased, and it was the largest in M1. The fungi:bacteria ratio decreased in the first year and then began to rise, while the aerobic:anaerobic ratio showed the opposite trend. According to the overall results, M3 leads to soil acidification, imbalance of the nutrients' proportion, abnormal enzyme activity and change of soil microbial flora, and rotated mulching management (mulching one year and then recuperating one year) should be recommended in practice.

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Section: Mulching Management and Soil Enzyme Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Mulching Management and Soil Microbial Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Soil Degradation Causes in Phyllostachys edulis Forests with Different Mulching Years

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…As a perennial legume, crown vetch (Coronilla varia L.) is a common intercropping plant in apple orchards with many benefits, including controlling weeds, decreasing soil erosion, fixing atmospheric N 2 , increasing soil enzyme activities, and improving the soil micro-ecological environment (Jarvis, 1983;Cardina et al, 1986;Qian et al, 2015). However, intercropping of crown vetch might compete with apple trees for water (Li et al, 2014).…”

Section: Apple Orchard Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this region, summer is hot (daily maximum temperatures can reach 39.4 °C in July) and moist, whereas winter and early spring are always cold (daily minimum temperatures can reach −16.7 °C in January) and dry. In average, total annual radiation for this site is 5360 MJ/ m 2 and the number of sun hours is 2477 h. There are than 30 countries in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia (Li et al, 2008;Yang & Chen, 2013;Qian et al, 2015). However, the Loess Plateau is also the largest dryland rain-fed agricultural area in China, and water resource deficiencies seriously restrict apple production (Huang & Gallichand, 2006).…”

Section: Apple Orchard Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving yield and water use efficiency of apple trees through intercrop-mulch of crown vetch (Coronilla varia L.) combined with different fertilizer treatments in the Loess Plateau

Zheng

Gong

et al. 2017

Span. j. agric. res.

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Improving water use efficiency (WUE) and soil fertility is relevant for apple production in drylands. The effects of intercropmulch (IM) of crown vetch (Coronilla varia L.) combined with different fertilizer treatments on WUE of apple trees and soil fertility of apple orchards were assessed over three years (2011, 2013 and 2014). A split-plot design was adopted, in which the main treatments were IM and no intercrop-mulch (NIM). Five sub-treatments were established: no fertilization (CK); nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer (NP); manure (M); N, P and potassium fertilizer (NPK); and NPK fertilizer combined with manure (NPKM). Due to mowing and mulching each month during July-September, the evapotranspiration for IM was 17.3% lower than that of NIM in the dry year of 2013. Additionally, the soil water storage of NPKM treatment was higher than that of CK during the experimental period. Thus, single fruit weight and fruit number per tree increased with IM and NPKM application. Moreover, applying NPKM with IM resulted in the highest yield (on average of three years), which was 73.25% and 130.51% greater than that of CK in IM and NIM, respectively. The WUE of NPKM combined with IM was also the highest in 2013 and 2014 (47.69 and 56.95% greater than applying IM alone). In addition, due to application of IM combined with NPKM, soil organic matter was increased by 25.8% compared with that of CK (in NIM). Additionally, application of IM combined with NPKM obtained more economic net return, compared to other combinations. Therefore, applying NPKM with IM is recommended for improving apple production in this rain-fed agricultural area.Additional key words: apple orchard; evapotranspiration; soil organic matter; mulching; chemical fertilizer; manure. Abbreviations used: CK (no fertilization); ET (evapotranspiration); ET bm (ET from late March to early July); ET mow (ET from early July to late September); ET tot (total ET); IM (intercrop-mulch); M (manure); NIM (no intercrop-mulch); NP (nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer); NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer); NPKM (NPK fertilizer combined with manure); SOM (soil organic matter); WUE (water use efficiency); WUE mow (WUE after mowing); WUE tot (total WUE).

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“…The effects of cover crops on soil microorganisms can be measured by considering parameters such as the diversity of the microbial community and microbial metabolic activities. Many studies conducted in China have demonstrated increases in soil microbial diversity following the introduction of cover crops [8]. However, most of these studies did not extend over multiple seasons; generally, they examined the composition of the microbial community in specific months relevant to certain problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term cover cropping seasonally affects soil microbial carbon metabolism in an apple orchard

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2019

Bioengineered

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Long-term cover cropping seasonally affects soil microbial carbon metabolism in an apple orchard, Bioengineered, 10:1, 207-217, ABSTRACT Groundcover management can significantly affect soil microbial metabolic activities, especially carbon metabolism, in apple orchards. However, there have been few studies on the effects of groundcover on the seasonality of soil microbial carbon metabolism. We, therefore, studied soil microbial carbon metabolism in an apple orchard on China's Loess Plateau under four single species cover crops (the grass Dactylis glomerata L., and the legumes Trifolium repens, Coronilla varia L., Lotus corniculatus L.) during spring, summer and fall. Cover cropping significantly, but differentially, promoted soil microbial carbon metabolism in spring and fall. However, cover cropping leads to a significant reduction of soil moisture in spring and summer due to the competition of soil moisture between the cover crops and apple trees, which probably lead to the changes in types of carbon substances metabolizing by soil microbes in summer. Besides, cover crop significantly enhanced soil organic carbon contents between three seasons while clean cultivation had slight, non-significant effects. The promotion of soil microbial metabolic activities was probably an important mechanism for the carbon accumulation, and we postulate that leguminous cover plants may have significantly different effects, mediated through their root exudates, from grasses on soil carbon contents. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Effects of living mulches on the soil nutrient contents, enzyme activities, and bacterial community diversities of apple orchard soils

Cited by 107 publications

References 45 publications

Analysis of Soil Degradation Causes in Phyllostachys edulis Forests with Different Mulching Years

Analysis of Soil Degradation Causes in Phyllostachys edulis Forests with Different Mulching Years

Improving yield and water use efficiency of apple trees through intercrop-mulch of crown vetch (Coronilla varia L.) combined with different fertilizer treatments in the Loess Plateau

Long-term cover cropping seasonally affects soil microbial carbon metabolism in an apple orchard

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