Microbial nutrient limitation and catalytic adjustments revealed from a long‐term nutrient restriction experiment

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Authors

Introduction

Microbial abundance and activities in soils are predominantly determined by soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability. Much research has focused on the effects of soil N than P availability on soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities as sensitive proxies of microbial ecophysiology highlighting the need to investigate how microbes will respond to P availability in soil, especially in cropping systems.
Materials and Methods

The effect of P fertilisation on microbial biomass-C, -N and -P, and the kinetic parameters (maximal velocity [Vmax], Michaelis constant [Km] and catalytic efficiency [Ka]) of β-1,4-glucosidase (BG; C-acquiring), leucine-aminopeptidase (LAP; predominantly N-acquiring) and acid phosphomonoesterase (PHO; P-acquiring) were measured in a nutrient-poor agricultural soil (devoid of fertiliser application since 1942).
Results

This study showed that P fertilisation led to a 65% and 56% increase in microbial biomass-N and -P, respectively, indicating severe P limitation and inefficient N acquisition by microbes without P availability. Increased Ka values of LAP with P fertilisation further hint toward the production of efficient isoenzymes to avoid resource tradeoffs for nutrient acquisition.
Conclusions

Overall, these results decipher microbial metabolic and catalytic adjustments mediated by soil P availability. Increased microbial biomass-N and -P with P fertilisation indicated microbial N and P colimitation that was partly overcome by the production of efficient enzymes for N acquisition with P fertilisation. We argue to incorporate microbial enzyme activities as a response to different management strategies to better inform us about soil biogeochemical cycles in cropping systems.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment
Volume1
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)142-148
Number of pages7
ISSN2767-035X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.06.2022

Bibliographical note

This publication was funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Leuphana University Lüneburg.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment published by Global Initiative of Crop Microbiome and Sustainable Agriculture and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

    Research areas

  • Biology
  • Ecosystems Research - catalytic efficiency, enzyme activity, Kinetic parameters, Microbial biomass, phosphorus fertilisation

DOI

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