Abstract
In the semiarid Pampa, biological indicators have not yet been used to evaluate the effect of land-use on soil quality. Our objective was to characterize, evaluate and obtain base-line values for soil respiration, microbial biomass and metabolic quotient in agricultural and native vegetation soils of the central semiarid Pampa region. In two natural vegetation and two agricultural soils, we determined clay, silt, total porosity, total carbon and nitrogen contents, microbial respiration and biomass, fungi-bacteria ratio and metabolic quotient in the upper, middle and lower profile layers. Soil use significantly affected the activity and the size of soil biota, in the sense that the agricultural soils, with lower carbon and nitrogen contents, showed lower respiration and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents compared to the natural vegetation. Microbial biomass and respiration were better indicators for soil degradation than the metabolic quotient. Soil use also had an effect on the fungi/bacteria ratio since agricultural soils had a lower proportion of fungi than soils under natural vegetation. These results enable us to establish baseline and threshold values for respiration and microbial biomass carbon contents.https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.18.28.1.0.555
Highlights
Los microorganismos tienen influencia en diversos procesos y funciones de los ecosistemas naturales y agrícolas (Ponge 2015)
Soil use had an effect on the fungi/bacteria ratio since agricultural soils had a lower proportion of fungi than soils under natural vegetation. These results enable us to establish baseline and threshold values for respiration and microbial biomass carbon contents
Cuatro indicadores de uso frecuente son la respiración microbiana, el carbono de la biomasa microbiana, el cociente metabólico y la relación hongo/bacteria
Summary
El estudio se desarrolló sobre Paleustoles petrocálcicos ubicados en el sur de la planicie con tosca de la región semiárida pampeana (Figura 1). Se seleccionaron 4 suelos por diferencias en las prácticas de producción, ubicados en un radio de 40 km de distancia, entre los 36°25 ́1,38 ́ ́S, 64°3 ́14 ́ ́O y los 36° 33 ́34,82 ́ ́S, 64°16 ́47,86 ́ ́O. Dos de ellos presentan pastizales naturales con vegetación dominante de gramíneas perennes por más de 50 años, con contenidos de carbono orgánico y nitrógeno diferentes entre sí y superiores a dos suelos seleccionados bajo uso agrícola también por más de 50 años (Tabla 1). Los dos suelos bajo uso agrícola fueron cultivados en siembra directa no continua que alternó con labranza de discos. En cada suelo se muestrearon tres perfiles equidistantes 10 m cada uno. En cada perfil de suelo se tomaron 2 muestras compuestas de 3 submuestras por cada estrato de profundidad (Tabla 1)
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