Influence of soil properties on fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing activity under different agro-ecosystems

Abstract: Assessment of microbial parameters, viz. microbial biomass, fluorescence diacetate, microbial respiration, acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase and urease with respect to acidity helps in evaluating the quality of soils. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different forms of acidities on soil microbial parameters in an acid mine drainage contaminated site around coal deposits in Jainta Hills of India. Total potential and exchangeable acidity, extractable and exchangeable aluminium were significantly higher in contaminated soil compared to the baseline (p

Abstract: Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae) is an annual weed of worldwide significance in grasslands and riparian corridors. In view of the invasibility and known allelochemical properties exhibited by its presence in a given habitat, the weed is hypothesized to change soil properties significantly.

Abstract: Soil microbial activity and diversity are affected by organic sources applied to improve soil quality and fluctuate seasonally. We investigated the effects of municipal compost (MC), poultry litter (PL), and cover crops of spring oats and red clover (RC) on soil enzyme activities, and soil bacterial community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) in a Mexico silt loam in North Central Missouri, USA. Temporal patterns of these parameters were observed by periodic five soil sampling from spring to fall over a two year period. MC increased soil dehydrogenase (DH) activity consistently beginning about three months after MC application; fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolytic activity significantly began to increase by the September of the first year but fluctuated during the following period. DH activity responded more directly to the amount or properties of organic residues in soils while FDA hydrolysis and CLPP were generally influenced by composition of organic sources, and enzyme activities and CLPP showed seasonal variation, which depended on organic sources and soil moisture. MC and cover crops may be useful organic sources for enhancing general soil microbial activity and altering soil microbial diversity, respectively. Because microbial activities and diversity are dynamic and subject to seasonal changes, the effects of organic amendments on these parameters should be investigated frequently during a growing season.

Abstract: BOOKS on methods of analysis can be divided into two classes, one of which is the ‘collected methods’ type. Here each chapter or section of the book is devoted to a specific analysis or group of related analyses, and gives the working details of all or nearly all the existing methods. Such books are not only very useful and convenient but also are a necessity for those analysts to whom the original papers in the literature are not easily accessible. It is, however, the other class of book that the analyst most appreciates, namely, the book in which he is not bewildered by an array of methods but is presented with a selection recommended from considerable experience. Dr. Piper has compiled his book along these lines, and all the methods, with a very few exceptions, are those in use at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute. Concise, and more important still, precise working details are given with ample explanation and a wealth of guidance and help.Soil and Plant AnalysisA Laboratory Manual of Methods for the Examination of Soils and the Determination of the Inorganic Constituents of Plants. By Dr. C. S. Piper. (A Monograph from the Waite Agricultural Research Institute.) Pp. xiv + 368. (Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 1942.) 15s.