Abstract: A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of rotation and fallowing on the microbial communities and enzyme activities in a greenhouse soil continuously cropped with cucumber and on the growth and yield of followed cucumber. Comparing with continuous cropping, rotation improved the components of soil microbial communities, which was manifested in the increase of bacteria and actinomycetes and the decrease of fungi. Rotation and fallowing enhanced the activities of soil invertase, urease, catalase, and polyphenol oxidase significantly. The quantities of soil bacteria and actinomycetes and the activity of soil invertase increased at the fruiting stage of cucumber plants, being the maximum at harvest stage, but decreased thereafter. In contrast, the quantity of soil fungi had a linear increase, and the activities of soil urease, catalase, and polyphenol oxidase decreased gradually during fruit development. Welsh onion and waxy maize promoted the growth and fruiting of the followed cucumber plants significantly, being the optimal rotation crops for cucumber.

Key words: rotation, continuous cropping, fungi, bacteria, actinomycete soil enzyme, net primary productivity (NPP), successional stage, climatic responses.