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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (10): 2685-2692.

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Chemical properties and enzyme activities of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils under six Chinese herbal medicines on Mt. Taibai of Qinling Mountains, Northwest China.

MENG Ling-jun1, GENG Zeng-chao1,2, YIN Jin-yan1, WANG Hai-tao1, JI Peng-fei1   

  1. (1College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 2Ningxia Helan Mountain Forest Ecosystem Orientational Research Station, Yinchuan 750000, China)
  • Online:2012-10-18 Published:2012-10-18

Abstract: This paper studied the chemical properties and enzyme activities of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils in different habitats of six Chinese herbal medicines, including Pyrola decorata, Cephalotaxus fortunei, Polygonatum odoratum, Potentilla glabra, Polygonum viviparum, and Potentilla fruticosa, on the Mt. Taibai of Qinling Mountains. In the rhizosphere soils of the herbs, the contents of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available nitrogen, and available phosphorus and the soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) were higher, presenting an obvious rhizosphere aggregation, and the soil enzyme activities also showed an overall stronger characteristics, compared with those in non-rhizosphere soils. The soil organic matter, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus contents in the rhizosphere soils had significant positive correlations with soil neutral phosphatase activity, and the soil CEC had significant positive correlations with the activities of soil neutral phosphatase and acid phosphatase. In the non-rhizosphere soils, the soil organic matter and total nitrogen contents had significant positive correlations with the activities of soil urease, catalase and neutral phosphatase, and the soil CEC showed a significant positive correlation with the activities of soil urease, catalase, neutral phosphatase and acid phosphatase. The comprehensive fertility level of the rhizosphere soils was higher than that of the non-rhizosphere soils, and the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils of P. fruticosa, P. viviparum, and P. glabra had higher comprehensive fertility level than those of P. decorata, P. odoratum and C. fortunei. In the evaluation of the fertility levels of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils under the six Chinese herbal medicines, soil organic matter content and CEC played important roles, and soil neutral phosphatase could be the preferred soil enzyme indicator.