High throughput method for measuring urease activity in soil

Cordero, Irene; Snell, Helen S. K.; Bardgett, Richard D.

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.03.014

Cited by 80 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The available N, available P, available K, and organic matter contents were measured by the alkaline hydrolysis diffusion method, sodium bicarbonate extraction/Mo-Sb colorimetry, ammonium acetate extraction/flame photometry, and the potassium bichromate titrimetric method, respectively. Catalase activity [22], sucrase activity, proteinase activity, urease activity [23], and acid phosphatase activity [24] were measured by permanganate titration, sodium thiosulfate titration, ninhydrin colorimetry, indophenol blue colorimetry, and the disodium phosphate benzene colorimetric method, respectively [19].…”

Section: Soil Physicochemical Property Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves the soil quality and increases the abundance of beneficial microbes

et al. 2021

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Sugarcane/peanut intercropping is a highly efficient planting pattern in South China. However, the effects of sugarcane/peanut intercropping on soil quality need to be clarified. This study characterized the soil microbial community and the soil quality in sugarcane/peanut intercropping systems by the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that the intercropping sugarcane (IS) system significantly increased the total N (TN), available N (AN), available P (AP), pH value, and acid phosphatase activity (ACP), but it had little effect on the total P (TP), total K (TK), available K (AK), organic matter (OM), urease activity, protease activity, catalase activity, and sucrase activity, compared with those in monocropping sugarcane (MS) and monocropping peanut (MP) systems. Both intercropping peanut (IP) and IS soils contained more bacteria and fungi than soils in the MP and MS fields, and the microbes identified were mainly Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria, respectively. Intercropping significantly increased the number of unique microbes in IS soils (68 genera), compared with the numbers in the IP (14), MS (17), and MP (16) systems. The redundancy analysis revealed that the abundances of culturable Acidobacteriaceae subgroup 1, nonculturable DA111, and culturable Acidobacteria were positively correlated with the measured soil quality in the intercropping system. Furthermore, the sugarcane/peanut intercropping significantly increased the economic benefit by 87.84% and 36.38%, as compared with that of the MP and MS, respectively. These results suggest that peanut and sugarcane intercropping increases the available N and P content by increasing the abundance of rhizospheric microbes, especially Acidobacteriaceae subgroup 1, DA111, and Acidobacteria.

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Section: Soil Physicochemical Property Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves the soil quality and increases the abundance of beneficial microbes

et al. 2021

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“…The increase of available N was related to the urease activities, which was the only significant change in IC and IP comparing with that in MC and MP ( Table 2). The role of urease is to catalyze urea hydrolysis into ammonia and carbon dioxide [48,49], which is common in higher plants, bacteria, fungi, and algae. Thus, we speculate that the changes of soil physicochemical properties may be related to urease produced by microbial community since both the dominant genera and quantity of the microbial community were changed in IC and IP comparing with that in MC and MP ( Table 3).…”

Section: Cassava/peanut Intercropping Changed the Microbial Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil enzyme activities were measured according to the previous reports. Catalase activity [60], sucrase activity, proteinase activity, urease activity [48], and acid phosphatase activity [3] were measured by permanganate titration, sodium thiosulfate titration, ninhydrin colorimetry, indophenol blue colorimetry, and the disodium phosphate benzene colorimetric method, respectively.…”

Section: Soil Physicochemical Property Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Cassava/peanut intercropping improves soil quality via rhizospheric microbes increased available nitrogen contents

et al. 2020

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Background: Intercropping, an essential cultivation pattern in modern agricultural systems, increases crop yields and soil quality. Cassava and peanut intercropping systems exhibit advantages in solar utilization and cadmium absorption, etc. However, the inner mechanisms need to be elucidated. In this study, Illumina MiSeq platform was used to reveal the rhizospheric microbes and soil quality in cassava/peanut intercropping systems, and the results provided a reference for the application of this method in studying other intercropping systems. Results: Both intercropping cassava/peanut (IP) and intercropping peanut/cassava (IC) systems significantly increased available N, available K, pH value, and urease activity, comparing with that in monocropping cassava (MC) and monocropping peanut (MP) system. However, there were few effects on the total N, total P, total K, available P, organic matter, protease activity, catalase activity, sucrase activity, and acid phosphatase activity. Both IP and MP soils contained more bacteria and fungi than those in the IC and MC soils, which were mainly made of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Intercropping remarkably increased the number of Nitrospirae in IP and IC soils comparing those in MC and MP soils. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the abundances of DA101, Pilimelia, and Ramlibacter were positively correlated to the soil quality. These results suggest that intercropping enhances the available nitrogen content of soil through increasing the quantity of rhizospheric microbes, especially that of DA101 and Pilimelia. Conclusions: The cassava/peanut intercropping system improves soil quality through increasing the available nitrogen content and abundance of DA101, Pilimelia, and Ramlibacter in the soil.

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“…Although not evaluated in this study, the use of a simple test that could be employed by farmers to determine on‐site urease activity from soils may help decide appropriate fertilizer types for a given region (Ouyang and Norton, 2020), without the need of experienced personnel or laboratory equipment to perform the analysis. Although different laboratory assays intended to quantify soil urease activity are available (Kandeler and Gerber, 1988; Sinsabaugh et al ., 2000; Cordero et al ., 2019), they require several steps with hours‐long incubations using different reagents and equipment (plate reader, centrifuge), making their implementation difficult – if not impossible – in the field. Field samples are transported, stored and analysed in a laboratory setting after days or weeks from their collection, which may result in urease activity changes derived from sample manipulation, temperature fluctuations, freeze–thaw cycles and time until its analysis (Lee et al ., 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, ammonia detection by the Berthelot reaction is commonly used to evaluate urease activity by a colour change in solution (e.g. Kandeler and Gerber, 1988; Sinsabaugh et al ., 2000; Cordero et al ., 2019), which is dramatically affected by the inherent components of environmental samples (e.g. pigments in photosynthetic biofilms preclude the reading of the assayed solutions), requiring high sample dilution, several individual steps, long incubation times and laboratory equipment, which prevent its application in the field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field detection of urease and carbonic anhydrase activity using rapid and economical tests to assess microbially induced carbonate precipitation

Ferrer

Hobart

Bailey

2020

Microbial Biotechnology

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Microbial precipitation of calcium carbonate is a widespread environmental phenomenon that has diverse engineering applications, from building and soil restoration to carbon sequestration. Urease-mediated ureolysis and CO 2 (de)hydration by carbonic anhydrase (CA) are known for their potential to precipitate carbonate minerals, yet many environmental microbial community studies rely on marker gene or metagenomic approaches that are unable to determine in situ activity. Here, we developed fast and cost-effective tests for the field detection of urease and CA activity using pH-sensitive strips inside microcentrifuge tubes that change colour in response to the reaction products of urease (NH 3) and CA (CO 2). The urease assay proved sensitive and useful in the field to detect in situ activity in biofilms from a saline lake, a series of calcareous fens, and ferrous springs, finding relatively high urease activity in lake samples. Incubations of lake microbes with urea resulted in significantly higher CaCO 3 precipitation compared to incubations with a urease inhibitor, showing that the rapid assay indicated an on-site active metabolism potentially mediating carbonate precipitation. The CA assay, however, showed less sensitivity compared to the urease test. While its sensitivity limits its utility, the assay may still be useful as a preliminary indicator given the paucity of other means for detecting CA activity in the field. Field urease, and potentially CA, activity assays complement molecular approaches and facilitate the search for carbonate-precipitating microbes and their in situ activity, which could be applied toward agriculture, engineering and carbon sequestration technologies.

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High throughput method for measuring urease activity in soil

Cited by 80 publications

References 19 publications

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves the soil quality and increases the abundance of beneficial microbes

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves the soil quality and increases the abundance of beneficial microbes

Cassava/peanut intercropping improves soil quality via rhizospheric microbes increased available nitrogen contents

Field detection of urease and carbonic anhydrase activity using rapid and economical tests to assess microbially induced carbonate precipitation

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