Soil Chemical Analysis

Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product.

B6nassy, C., 1955. R6marques sur deux Aphelinid6s: Aphelinus mytilaspidis Le Baron et Aphytis proclia Walker. Annls l~piphyt. 6: 11-17. Lord, F. T. & MacPhee, A. W., 1953. The influence of spray programs on the fauna of apple orchards in Nova Scotia II. Oyster shell scale. Can. Ent. 79: 196-209. Pickett, A. D., 1946. A progress report on long term spray programs. Rep. Nova Scotia Fruit Grow. Ass. 83 : 27-31. Pickett, A. D., 1967. The influence of spray programs on the fauna of apple orchards in Nova Scotia XIV. Can. Ent. 97: 816-821. Tothill, J. D., 1918. The predacious mite Hemisarcoptes malus Shimer and its relation to the natural control of the oyster shell scale Lepidosaphes ulmi L. Agric. Gaz. Can. 5 : 234-239.

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF01976688.pdf

Soil enzymes: Kuprevich, V. F. & Shcherbakova, T. A.: Translated from the Russian edition (1966), published by the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre, New Delhi 1971. 392 pp., offset printing from type script, paper cover. Obtainable from U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va. 22151

Chemical and microbial remediation of hexavalent chromium from contaminated soil and mining/metallurgical solid waste: a review.

A review of the use of composted municipal solid waste in agriculture

Seasonal fluctuations in salinity are typical in coastal soils due to the intrusion of seawater in the groundwater. We studied the effect of salinity on the microbial and biochemical parameters of the salt-affected soils of the coastal region of Bay of Bengal, Sundarbans, India. The average pH values and average organic C (OC) contents of soils from nine different sites cultivated with rice (Oryza sativa) ranged from 4.8 to 7.8 and from 5.2 to 14.1 g kg−1, respectively. The average electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) during the summer season was about five times higher than that during the monsoon season. Within the nine sites, three soils (S3, S4, and S5) were the most saline. The average microbial biomass C (MBC), average basal soil respiration (BSR), and average fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing activity (FDHA) were lowest during the summer season, indicating a negative influence of soil salinity. About 59%, 50%, and 20% variation in MBC/OC, FDHA/OC, and BSR/MBC (metabolic quotient, qCO2), respectively, which are indicators of environmental stress, could be explained by the variation in ECe. The decrease in MBC and microbial activities with a rise in salinity is probably one of the reasons for the poor crop growth in salt-affected coastal soils.

Microbial biomass and its activities in salt-affected coastal soils

Soil salinity is a serious problem for agriculture in coastal regions, wherein salinity is temporal in nature. We studied the effect of salinity, in summer, monsoon and winter seasons, on microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and enzyme activities (EAs) of the salt-affected soils of the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, Sundarbans, India. The average pH of soils collected from different sites, during different seasons varied from 4.8 to 7.8. The average organic C (OC) and total N (TN) content of the soils ranged between 5.2–14.1 and 0.6–1.4 g kg −1 , respectively. The electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) of soils, averaged over season, varied from 2.2 to 16.3 dSm −1 . The ECe of the soils increased five fold during the summer season (13.8 dSm −1 ) than the monsoon season (2.7 dSm −1 ). The major cation and anion detected were Na + and Cl − , respectively. Seasonality exerted considerable effects on MBC and soil EAs, with the lowest values recorded during the summer season. The activities of β -glucosidase, urease, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase were similar during the winter and monsoon season. The dehydrogenase activity of soils was higher in monsoon than in winter. Average MBC, dehydrogenase, β -glucosidase, urease, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase activities of the saline soils ranged from 125 to 346 mg kg −1 oven dry soil, 6–9.9 mg triphenyl formazan (TPF) kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 18–53 mg p -nitro phenol (PNP) kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 38–86 mg urea hydrolyzed kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 213–584 mg PNP kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 and 176–362 mg PNP g −1 oven dry soil h −1 , respectively. The same for the non-saline soils were 274–446 mg kg −1 oven dry soil, 8.8–14.4 mg TPF kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 41–80 mg PNP kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 89–134 mg urea hydrolyzed kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , 219–287 mg PNP kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 and 407–417 mg PNP kg −1 oven dry soil h −1 , respectively. About 48%, 82%, 48%, 63%, 40% and 48% variation in MBC, dehydrogenase activity, β -glucosidase activity, urease activity, acid phosphatase activity and alkaline phosphatase activity, respectively, could be explained by the variation in ECe of saline soils. Suppression of EAs of the coastal soils during summer due to salinity rise is of immense agronomic significance and needs suitable interventions for sustainable crop production.

Enzyme activities and microbial biomass in coastal soils of India

We investigated some aspects of soil quality and community-level physiological profiles (CLPP) of bacteria in soil under a long-term (37 years) trial with either exclusive inorganic fertilizers or fertilizers combined with farmyard manure cultivated with jute–rice–wheat system The treatments consisted of 100% recommended dose (RD) of NPK, 150% RD of NPK, 100% RD of N, 100% RD of NPK + FYM (10 t ha−1 year−1), and untreated control Long-term application of 150% RD of NPK lowered the soil pH considerably while the soils in the other treatments remained near neutral The 100% RD of NPK + FYM treated plot showed significantly highest accumulation of organic carbon, total nitrogen, microbial biomass carbon, basal soil respiration, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing activity among the treatments CLPP analysis in Biolog Ecoplates revealed that utilization of carbohydrates was enhanced in all input treated regimes, while the same for polymers, carboxylic acids, amino acids, and amines/amides were similar or less than the untreated control However, within these groups of carbon sources, heterogeneity of individual substrate utilization between treatments was also noted Taken together, addition of organic supplements showed significantly increased microbial biomass carbon and microbial activity, but input of nutrient supplements, both inorganic and organic, only marginally affected the overall substrate utilization pattern of soil microorganisms

Ashis Kumar Chakraborty

Papers

Microbial biomass and its activities in salt-affected coastal soils

Enzyme activities and microbial biomass in coastal soils of India

Effect of long-term fertilizers and manure application on microbial biomass and microbial activity of a tropical agricultural soil

Microbial biomass and enzyme activities in submerged rice soil amended with municipal solid waste compost and decomposed cow manure

Degradation and effects of pesticides on soil microbiological parameters - a review.