Abstract: By using the routine soil physical and chemical analysis methods and the Biolog technique, this paper studied the effects of Festuca arundinacea growth on the pH value, total salt content, and microbial community in the rhizosphere of crude oil-contaminated saline-alkaline soil in Songnen Plain of Northeast China. Crude oil contamination resulted in the increases of average well color development (AWCD), Shannon index (H), and carbon source utilization richness index (S), and altered the utilization patterns of carbon sources by the microbes. F. arundinacea had greater potential to remediate crude oilcontaminated soil. This plant could decrease the soil pH and soil total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content, and increase the soil water content. The AWCD and S in
F. arundinacea rhizosphere soil were obviously higher than those in the soil of naked land, providing a suitable environment for the growth and development of rhizosphere soil microbes.

Key words: petroleum contamination, microbial community, Festuca arundinacea, Biolog, Songnen Plain, saline-alkaline soil.