MICROBIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF APPALACHIAN UPLAND PODSOL SOILS: I. EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL TREATMENTS

Abstract

A study has been made of the effects of fertilizers and limestone, of fallowing, and of deep ploughing, upon certain aspects of microbial activity in representative Appalachian podsol soils at three farms in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec Province. The results show that the evolution of carbon dioxide and numbers of bacteria and actinomyces were not altered by any simple fertilizer applied annually for two years. Limestone, at the rate of six tons per acre, increased the numbers of micro-organisms during the two years of the experiment. Deep ploughing reduced both carbon dioxide and bacterial numbers in soils ordinarily ploughed to a normal depth.Studies have also been made to determine the effects of some other chemical treatments upon the soil microflora. Carbon dioxide, bacterial numbers and nitrification of soil nitrogen were increased in field plots after treatment with calcium oxide, sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide, alone or in combination; the effects lasted through two seasons.