EGU21-8646
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8646
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Enzymatic and microbial activities as influenced by tillage and fertilization in a semi-arid Mediterranean agroecosystem

Francesco De Mastro1, Andreina Traversa2, Gennaro Brunetti3, and Evgenia Blagodatskaya4
Francesco De Mastro et al.
  • 1University of Bari, Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences , Italy (francesco.demastro@uniba.it)
  • 2University of Bari, Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences , Italy (francesco.demastro@uniba.it)
  • 3University of Bari, Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences , Italy (francesco.demastro@uniba.it)
  • 4Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Department Bodenökologie, Dept. of Agropedology Germany (janeblag@mail.ru)

Soil enzymes respond rapidly to changes in soil managements, and therefore are used as early and sensitive indicators of alteration in soil properties induced by tillage and additions of fertilizers. The aim of this work was to compare the effects of different tillage (no, minimum, and conventional tillage), fertilization and soil depth (0-30, 30-60 and 60- 90 cm) on the microbial biomass, enzyme activity and their relationship with soil nutrients in a semiarid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem. Growing and total microbial biomass decreased with depth together with the activities of β-glucosidase and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase presumably because of the reduced carbon and oxygen content in the deeper layers of soils. The fertilization stimulated fast-growing microorganisms with low affinity of enzyme systems to substrate, enhanced the growing microbial biomass and facilitated the turnover rate of soil organics. Under no tillage, all enzymes showed higher potential activity in top layers of fertilized plots as compared with non-fertilized ones. The minimum tillage practice increased the growing microbial biomass, and stimulated N- and P-acquiring enzymes due to  increased nutrients limitation. Parameters of microbial growth and enzyme kinetics are suitable indicators of microbial activity in semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystems.

How to cite: De Mastro, F., Traversa, A., Brunetti, G., and Blagodatskaya, E.: Enzymatic and microbial activities as influenced by tillage and fertilization in a semi-arid Mediterranean agroecosystem, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-8646, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8646, 2021.