Abstract
Manure applications can benefit crop productivity by adding required nutrients and organic matter to soil. There is a paucity of infor mation on how soil microbial community dynamics will be altered by the application of manure to different landscape positions. Thus, an in situ field study was conducted during the summer and winter months to eval uate microbiological properties of three soil types that have evolved be cause of different landscape positions in an agricultural field. The three Coastal Plain soils investigated were Bama (sandy loam), Lynchburg (loam), and Goldsboro (loam) representing the landscape position of a summit, drainageway, and sideslope, respectively. Composted dairy manure was incorporated into in situ soil cores at a rate of 350 kg N ha j1 and com pared with unamended controls. Soil microbial biomass N and dehydro genase enzyme activity were determined to evaluate changes in the microbial biomass size and activity, whereas phospholipid fatty acid analy sis was used as an indicator of the microbial community structure. Ad dition of composted dairy manure increased microbial activity and N immobilization, representing a shift in microbial response resulting from changes in substrate availability. This was most evident during summer months, with the composted dairy manure increasing dehydrogenase en zyme activity 21% and microbial activity 20% compared with without manure, suggesting that seasonal timing of application will influence mi crobial activity. Microbial properties were also impacted by landscape position. The drainageway landscape position soil, a loam, had the highest microbial biomass and microbial activity. Changes in microbial commu nity structure using phospholipid fatty acid profiles were evaluated with canonical discriminate analysis. This analysis indicated that a shift in microbial community structure occurred between season, manure appli cation, and landscape position. Findings from this study suggest that changes in soil variability from landscape positions and season can impact the growth and dynamics of the microbial community when manure is applied to agricultural fields.
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