Abstract
Changes in the soil microbial biomass following applications of farmyard manure and inorganic fertilizer, alone and in combination, were studied for two annual cycles in a rice-lentil crop sequence grown under rainfed tropical dryland conditions. During the two annual cycles the microbial biomass C range (μg g-1) was 146–241 (x = 204), 191–301 (245), 244–382 (305), and 294–440 (365) in control, fertilizer, manure and manure+fertilizer plots, respectively. The corresponding ranges for microbial biomass N (μg g-1) were 16.5–21.0 (19.5), 20.4–38.2 (26.0), 23.0–34.6 (27.0) and 26.2–42.4 (33.3), and for microbial biomass P (μg g-1) 4.4–8.2 (7.0) 6.0–11.2 (9.6), 11.2–22.0 (17.0), and 10.0–25.4 (18.3). The maximum increase in the microbial biomass, due to these inputs was observed under the manure+fertilizer treatment followed, in decreasing order, by manure alone and fertilizer alone. Within individual crop periods the levels of microbial biomass decreased sharply from the seedling to the flowering stage and then increased slightly with crop maturity. The maximum levels of microbial biomass C and P were observed during the summer fallow. The maximum accumulation of microbial biomass N occurred in the early rainy season, immediately after the soil amendments. Microbial biomass C, N, and P were positively related to each other throughout the annual cycle.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agarwal RR, Mehrotra CL (1952) Soil survey and soil work in Uttar Pradesh, Vol II. Department of Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh
Allen SE, Grimshaw HM, Rowland AP (1986) Chemical analysis. In: Moore PD, Chapman SB (eds) Methods in plant ecology. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 285–344
Anderson JPE, Domsch KH (1980) quantities of plant nutrients in the microbial biomass of selected soils. Soil Biol Biochem 10:207–213
Anderson TH, Domsch KH (1987) Carbon link between microbial biomass and soil organic matter. In: Megusar F, Gontar M (eds) Perspectives in microbial ecology. Slovene Society for Microbiology, Llubljana, pp 467–471
Anderson TH, Domsch KH (1989) Rations of microbial biomass carbon to total organic carbon in arable soils. Soil Biol Biochem 21:471–479
Beauchamp (1983) Response of corn to nitrogen in preplant and side dress applications of liquid dairy cattle manure. Can J Soil Sci 63:377–386
Bonde TA, Schnürer J, Rosswall T (1988) Microbial biomass as a fraction of potentially mineralizable nitrogen in soils from longterm field experiments. Soil Biol Biochem 20:447–452
Brookes PC, Powlson DS, Jenkinson DS (1982) Measuremtn of microbial phosphorus in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 14:319–329
Brookes PC, Powlson DS, Jenkinson DS (1984) Phosphorus in the soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 16:169–175
Brookes PC, Kragt JF, Powlson DS, Jenkinson DS (1985a) Chloroform fumigation and release of soil N: The effects of fumigation time and temperature. Soil Biol Biochem 17:831–835
Brookes PC, Landman A, Pruden G, Jenkinson DS (1985b) Chloroform fumigation and release of soil N: A rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial biomass N in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 17:837–842
Campbell CA, Biederbeck VO, Zenter RP, Lafond GP (1991) Effect of crop rotations and cultural practices on soil organic matter, microbial biomass and respiration in a thin Black Chernozem. Can J Siol Sci 71:363–376
Carter LJ (1980) Organic farming becomes “legitimate”. Science 209:254–256
Carter MR (1991) The influence of tillage on the proportion of organic carbon and nitrogen in the microbial biomass of mediumtextured soils in a humid climate. Biol Fertil Soils 11:135–139
Carter MR, Rennie DA (1982) Change in soil quality under zero tillage farming systems: Distribution of microbial biomass and mineralizable C and N potentials. Can J Soil Sci 62:587–597
Carter MR, Rennie DA (1984) Dynamics of soil microbial biomass N under zero and shallow tillage for spring wheat using 15N urea. Plant and Soil 76:157–164
Ghoshal N (1993) Effect of farmyard manure on soil microbial biomass dynamics and crop growth in a dryland agroecosystem. PhD thesis, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
Goyal S, Mishra MM, Dhankar SS, Kapoor KK, Batra R (1993) Microbial biomass turnover and enzyme activities following the application of farmyard manure to field soils with and without previous long-term applications. Biol Fertil Soils 15:60–64
Gupta AR, Narwal RP, Antil RS, Dev S (1992) Sustaining soil fertility with organic-C, N, P and K by using farmyard manure and fertilizer-N in a semiarid zone: A long-term study. Arid Soil Res Rehabil 6:243–251
Haider J, Marumoto T, Azad AK (1991) Estimation of microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in Bangladesh soils. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 37:591–599
Hassink J, Lebbink G, van Veen JA (1991) Microbial biomass and activity of a reclaimed-polder soil under a conventional or a reduced-input farming system. Soil Biol Biochem 23:507–513
Jackson ML (1958) Soil chemical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Jenkinson DS (1978) The soil biomass. NZ Soil News 25:213–218
Jenkinson DS, Ladd JN (1981) Microbial biomass in soil. Measurement and turnover. Soil Biochem 5:415–471
Jenkinson DS, Powlson DS (1976) The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soils: V. A method of measuring soil biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 8:208–213
Jones MB, Woodmansee RG (1979) Biogeochemical cycling in annual grassland. Bot Rev 45:111–114
Lynch JM, Panting LM (1980) Cultivation on the soil biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 12:29–33
Lynch JM, Panting LM (1982) Effects of season, cultivation and nitrogen fertilizer on the size of the soil microbial biomass. J Sci Food Agric 33:249–252
Marumoto T (1984) Mineralization of C and N from microbial biomass in paddy soil. Plant and Soil 76:165–173
Misra KC (1979) Tropical grasslands: Introduction. In: Coupland RT (ed) Grassland ecosystems of the world: Analysis of grasslands and their uses. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge London, pp 189–195
Nannipieri P, Grego S, Ceccanti B (1990) Ecological significance of the biological activity in soil. Soil Biochem 6:293–355
Perrott KW, Sarathchandra SU (1989) Phosphorus in the microbial biomass of new Zealand soils under established pasture. NZ J Agric Res 32:409–413
Powlson DS, Jenkinson DS (1981) A comparison of the organic matter, biomass, adenosine triphosphate and mineralizable nitrogen contents of ploughed and direct drilled soils. J Agric Sci 97:713–721
Ritz K, Robinson D (1988) Temporal variations in soil microbial biomass C and N under a spring barley crop. Soil Biol Biochem 20:625–630
Sakamoto K, Oba Y (1991) Relationship between the amount of organic material applied and soil biomass content. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 37:387–397
Sanchez PA (1976) Properties and management of soils in the tropics. Wiley, New York
Schnürer J, Clarholm M, Rosswall T (1985) Microbial biomass and activity in agricultural soil with different organic matter contents. Soil Biol Biochem 17:611–618
Schnürer J, Clarholm M, Rosswall T (1986) Fungi, bacteria and protozoa in soil from four arable cropping systems. Biol Fertil Soils 2:119–126
Singh H, Singh KP (1993) Effect of residue placement and chemical fertilizer on soil microbial biomass under tropical dryland cultivation. Biol Fertil Soils 16:275–281
Singh JS, Raghubanshi AS, Singh RS, Srivastava SC (1989) Microbial biomass acts as a source of plant nutrients in dry tropical forest and savanna. Nature (London) 338:499–500
Smith JL, Paul EA (1990) The significance of soil microbial biomass estimations. Soil Biochem 6:357–396
Srivastava SC, Singh JS (1988) Carbon and phosphorus in the soil biomass of some tropical soils of India. Soil Biol Biochem 20:743–747
Srivastava SC, Singh JS (1989) Effect of cultivation on microbial carbon and nitrogen in dry tropical forest soil. Biol Fertil Soils 8:343–348
Walkley A (1947) A critical examination of a rapid method for determining organic carbon in soils-effects of variations in digestion conditions and of inorganic soil constituents. Soil Sci 63:251–284
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ghoshal, N., Singh, K.P. Effects of farmyard manure and inorganic fertilizer on the dynamics of soil microbial biomass in a tropical dryland agroecosystem. Biol Fertil Soils 19, 231–238 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00336165
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00336165