Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXV, Issue 2
Written by Irina SENICOVSCAIA, Andriana DANILOV, Andrei DANILOV
Microbial biomass in calcareous, leached and podzolic chernozems has been studied in connection with the evaluation of soil degradation processes as a result of a long-term arable use. Experimental sites located in the southern and northern zone of the Republic of Moldova have been tested in August and September 2021. Microbial biomass sampling was carried out in 6 profiles per soil horizons to a depth of 150-240 cm. The highest values of microorganisms’ abundance were registered in the upper horizon in chernozems of the natural ecosystem. Microbial biomass content constituted 535.0-1168.6 μg C g-1 soil and was much more than in arable chernozems. Microbiological indices in soil profiles decreased with the depth. Microbial biomass reserves in chernozems in the 0-100 cm layer has been reducing from natural chernozems (4925.2-11816.4 kg ha-) to old-arable chernozems (2547.3-6659.2 kg ha-). The microbial biomass was connected with humus content. Correlation coefficients constitute 0.94. The binding effect between microbial biomass and humus content decreases from natural chernozems (R2 = 0.94) to arable ones (R2 = 0.64).
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