Sammanfattning

This study investigates microbial communities in soil from sites under different land use in Kenya. We sampled natural forest, forest plantations, agricultural fields of agroforestry farms, agricultural fields with traditional farming and eroded soil on the slopes of Mount Elgon, Kenya. We hypothesised that microbial decomposition capacity, biomass and diversity (1) decreases with intensified cultivation; and (2) can be restored by soil and land management in agroforestry. Functional capacity of soil microbial communities was estimated by degradation of 31 substrates on Biolog EcoPlates (TM). Microbial community composition and biomass were characterised by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and microbial C and N analyses. All 31 substrates were metabolised in all studied soil types, i.e. functional diversity did not differ. However, both the substrate utilisation rates and the microbial biomass decreased with intensification of land use, and the biomass was positively correlated with organic matter content. Multivariate analysis of PLFA and Biolog EcoPlate (TM) data showed clear differences between land uses, also indicated by different relative abundance of PLFA markers for certain microorganism groups. In conclusion, our results show that vegetation and land use control the substrate utilisation capacity and microbial community composition and that functional capacity of depleted soils can be restored by active soil management, e. g. forest plantation. However, although 20-30 years of agroforestry farming practises did result in improved soil microbiological and chemical conditions of agricultural soil as compared to traditional agricultural fields, the change was not statistically significant. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Nyckelord

Biolog EcoPlate (TM); PLFA; Soil nutrients; Agriculture; Forest plantation; Soil C

Publicerad i

Applied Soil Ecology
2014, Volym: 82, sidor: 93-99

SLU författare

• Lagerlöf, Jan

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Adolfsson, Lena

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Börjesson, Gunnar

  • Institutionen för mark och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Pallarès Vinyoles, Glòria

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Sundh, Ingvar

  • Institutionen för molekylära vetenskaper, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

SDG15 Skydda, återställa och främja ett hållbart nyttjande av landbaserade ekosystem, hållbart bruka skogar, bekämpa ökenspridning, hejda och vrida tillbaka markförstöringen samt hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald


UKÄ forskningsämne

Jordbruksvetenskap
Ekologi
Markvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2014.05.015

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/58820