Monitoring Soil Enzymes Activity before and after Animal Manure Application

Abstract

Soil enzymes (urease, invertase, acid and alkaline phosphatase) activity in the rhizosphere of field-grown tomato plants were used to monitor the impact of soil amendments (SA) and SA mixed with biochar on soil microbial activity four months after addition of amendments. The soil treatments were sewage sludge (SS); horse manure (HM); chicken manure (CM); vermicompost (worm castings); commercial inorganic fertilizer; commercial organic fertilizer; and no-mulch (NM) native soil used for comparison purposes. Soil treatments also were mixed with 10% (w/w) biochar to investigate the impact of biochar on soil enzymes activity. The results showed a significant increase in soil urease and invertase activities after incorporation of SA to native soil. Vermicompost and HM were superior in increasing urease and invertase activity four months after their addition to native soil. Alkaline phosphatase activity fluctuated among the soil treatments, revealing some obstruction of its activity. SS amended with biochar increased acid phosphatase activity by 115% four months after SS addition. Other than alkaline phosphatase, organic manure enhanced soil biological activity (microbial biomass and release of enzymes), indicating that the use of manures, rather than inorganic fertilizers, in crop production is an affordable and sustainable agricultural production system.

Analysis of Chemical and Biochemical Parameters of Petrol-Contaminated Soil after Biostimulation with an Enzyme Reagent

“…The amount of P available for plants in the soil is small, constituting only about 1-5% of the total P content [43]. Many authors have suggested that the examination of soil phosphatase activity may indicate the ability of soil to maintain its quality [14,44,[46][47][48][49].…”

Bioaccumulation of Trace Metals in Plants Grown in Sewage Sludge Amended Soil

“…Total metal concentration in soil was extracted using nitric acid (HNO 3 ) as described by Antonious et al [24]. Since total metal concentration in soils is not a useful predictor of bioavailability of soluble metal uptake by plants, a mild solvent (calcium chloride, CaCl 2 ) was also used to extract the readily soluble and extractable metal ions.…”

Yield and Quality of Lettuce, Pumpkin, and Watermelon Varieties Grown Under Five Soil Management Practices

“…Soil quality is significantly dependent on soil biology in which microorganisms play energetic parts in soil fertility and crop production through enzymatic activity, organic matter decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Animal manure is a useful fertilizer for improving soil quality and nutrient status and for reducing dependence on synthetic inorganic fertilizers at low-cost to limited resource farmers [1].…”

“…Maerere et al [7] reported that most studies on utilization of animal manure have largely concentrated on crop yield responses with very little attempts to relate such responses with crop varieties and soil enzymes activity following animal manure application. Animal manures applied to soils have a variety of soil microorganisms that release a variety of enzymes responsible for breaking down complex forms of organic materials [1] as well as P, K, Ca, Mg and NO 3 compared to soils to which inorganic fertilizers have been applied [8,9]. Chicken manure (CM) is a cheap natural product that is locally available to organic vegetable growers for use to replace inorganic fertilizers which are relatively expensive and can potentially contaminate natural water resources.…”