Effect of organic matter on soil enzyme activity, organic carbon and microbial activity under different land use systems

Abstract

The microbial and enzyme activities of the soil are closely related to the organic matter content and influenced by hydrothermal regimes of the soil. Keeping this in view, the effect of organic matter was studied on dehydrogenase, urease, acid and alkaline phosphatase activity and microbial population like bacteria, fungi and actinimycetes was evaluated from four year old cultivation under different land use systems i.e., mango, cashew, vegetable, rose and medicinal and aromatic crops at different depths (0-15, 15-30, 30-50. 50-100 cm). From this study it was observed that, the mango and cashew showed significantly higher enzymes activity and microbial population at the surface soil (0-15 cm) as compared to annual crops.