Impacts of Soil Texture on Microbial Community of Orchard Soils in Gyeongnam Province

Abstract

Soil management for orchard depends on the effects of soil microbial activities. The present study evaluated the soil microbial community of 25 orchard (5 sites for sandy loam, 7 sites for silt loam, and 13 sites for loam) in Gyeongnam Province by fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) method. The average values for 25 orchard soil samples were 270 nmol g -1 of total FAMEs, 72 nmol g -1 of total bacteria, 34 nmol g -1 of Gram-negative bacteria, 34 nmol g -1 of Gram-positive bacteria, 6 nmol g -1 of actinomycetes, 49 nmol g -1 of fungi, and 7 nmol g -1 of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. In addition, silt loam soils had significantly low ratio of cy17:0 to 16:1ω7c and cy19:0 to 18:1ω7c compared with those of loam soils (p < 0.05), indicating that microbial activity increased. The average soil microbial communities in the orchard soils were 26.7% of bacteria, 17.9% of fungi, 12.6% of Gram-negative bacteria, 12.5% of Gram-positive bacteria, 2.5% of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and 2.2% of actinomycetes. The soil microbial community of Gram-negative bacteria in silt loam soils was significantly higher than those of sandy loam and loam soils (p < 0.05).