Biodiv Sci ›› 2013, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (3): 334-342.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2013.09030

Special Issue: 土壤生物与土壤健康

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Changes in soil microbial properties and nematode assemblage over time during rice cultivation

Yudi Liu1, Xiaoyun Chen1, Manqiang Liu1,*(), Jiangtao Qin2, Huixin Li1, Feng Hu1   

  1. 1 Soil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095
    2 Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008
  • Received:2013-01-30 Accepted:2013-03-28 Online:2013-05-20 Published:2013-06-05
  • Contact: Liu Manqiang

Abstract:

The properties of red soil may change over time when paddy fields are developed on what was previously dry land. The effect of rice cultivation duration on soil invertebrates is unknown. Five chronosequences of rice cultivation (1, 10, 20, 50 and 100 years) were selected to investigate the temporal changes of soil microbiological properties and nematode assemblages. The results showed that soil microbial properties (microbial biomass C, microbial biomass N, basal respiration), nutrient availability (mineral N and P), nematode abundance and richness of nematode genera generally increased with the duration of rice cultivation. Notably, most soil measurements peaked after 50 years of cultivation (P<0.05) and decreased slightly after 100 years. As the period of rice cultivation increased, the proportion of nematode herbivores rose significantly (P< 0.05), while that of predators/omnivores slightly declined. Nematode Channel Ratio (NCR) also increased with cultivation duration (P< 0.05), indicating that the bacterial energy channel was more dominant in old rice fields when compared to those cultivated for a shorter period. Other ecological indices of nematode assemblage such as maturity index and structure index, did not reveal consistent trends with an increased period of rice cultivation. In summary, a change in land use from dry land to paddy fields promotes soil microbial properties and nematode assemblages in the first few decades, which then become stable after 50 years of cultivation.

Key words: rice paddy, cultivation duration, soil microbiolgical property, nematode assemblage