Abstract
As a part of attempts at examining the suitability of using moderate amounts of Cu for mitigating the undesirably fast decomposition and subsidence of some organic soils, this investigation revealed that both total and DTPA-TEA-extractable Cu contents of 14 samples of cultivated organic soils correlated negatively with the total microbial population counted on soil extract-acitidione-gelatin agar plates and positively with the percentage of that population capable of extracellular proteolysis. On the other hand, the concentrations of both total and extractable Cu did not correlate with either the total number of proteolytic organisms counted, or the capacities of the soils for ammonification and nitrification. The results are, therefore, in accord with the belief that Cu curtails the decomposition of organic soils primarily through inactivation of accumulated soil enzymes, but not through direct toxic effects on the general soil microbial population.
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