Effects of slow-release urea fertilizers on urease activity, microbial biomass, and nematode communities in an aquic brown soil

Xiaoguang Jiao, Wenju Liang, Lijun Chen, Haijun Zhang, Qi Li, Peng Wang, Dazhong Wen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Shenyang Experimental Station of Ecology (CAS) in order to study the effects of slow-release urea fertilizers high polymer-coated urea (SRU1), SRU1 mixed with dicyandiamide DCD (SRU2), and SRU1 mixed with calcium carbide CaC2 (SRU3) on urease activity, microbial biomass C and N, and nematode communities in an aquic brown soil during the maize growth period. The results demonstrated that the application of slow-release urea fertilizers inhibits soil urease activity and increases the soil NH4+-N content. Soil available N increment could promote its immobilization by microorganisms. Determination of soil microbial biomass N indicated that a combined application of coated urea and nitrification inhibitors increased the soil active N pool. The population of predators/omnivores indicated that treatment with SRU2 could provide enough soil NH4+-N to promote maize growth and increased the food resource for the soil fauna compared with the other treatments. Copyright by Science in China Press 2005.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26-32
Number of pages7
JournalScience in China, Series C: Life Sciences
Volume48
Issue numberSUPPL.1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aquic brown soil
  • Microbial biomass
  • Nematode community
  • Slow-release urea
  • Urease activity

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