Quantifying effects of different agricultural land uses on soil microbial biomass and activity in Brazilian biomes: inferences to improve soil quality

• Published in: Plant and soil Vol. 338; no. 1-2; pp. 467 - 481
• Main Authors: Kaschuk, Glaciela, Alberton, Odair, Hungria, Mariangela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.01.2011; Springer; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agricultural soils; Agrology; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Analysis; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biochemistry and biology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomes; Brazil; Brazilian biomes; Caatinga; Canada; Cerrado; Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties; Cropping systems; crops; Deforestation; disturbed soils; Ecology; Ecosystems; Environmentalists; farmers; Forest soils; Forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Iran; Land use; land use change; Life Sciences; Meta-analyses; meta-analysis; microbial biomass; Microbiology; Natural vegetation; Organic carbon; Organic matter; Pasture; Pastures; Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plantations; Regular Article; soil ecology; Soil microorganisms; soil organic carbon; soil organic matter; Soil quality; Soil science; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil sciences; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; Soils; Sustainability; Sustainable agriculture; viability; South America; Brazil; America; Iran; Canada; South America, Amazon R; Deforestation; Soil organic matter; Brazilian biomes; Meta-analyses; Land use change; Organic matter; Property of soil; Soil quality; Farmland; Activity; Inference; Agricultural soil; Microbial biomass; Land use; Metaanalysis; Biome; Rural area; Soil plant relation; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-010-0559-z

Maintenance of soil quality is a key component of agriculture sustainability and a main goal of most farmers, environmentalists and government policymakers. However, as there are no parameters or methods to evaluate soil quality directly, some attributes of relevant soil functions are taken as indicators; lately, an increase in the use of soil microbial parameters has occurred, and their viability as indicators of proper land use has been highlighted. In this study we performed a meta-analysis of the response ratios of several microbial and chemical parameters to soil disturbance by different land uses in the Brazilian biomes. The studies included native forests, pastures and perennial and annual cropping systems. The introduction of agricultural practices in all biomes covered previously with natural vegetation profoundly affected microbial biomass-C (MB-C)―with an overall decrease of 31%. Annual crops most severely reduced microbial biomass and soil organic C, with an average decrease of 53% in the MB-C. In addition, the MB-C/TSOC (total soil organic carbon) ratio was significantly decreased with the transformation of forests to perennial plantation (25%), pastures (26%), and annual cropping (20%). However, each biome reacted differently to soil disturbance, i.e., decreases in MB-C followed the order of Cerrado>Amazon>Caatinga>Atlantic Forest. In addition, the Cerrado appeared to have the most fragile soil ecosystem because of lower MB-C/TSOC and higher qCO₂. Unfortunately, the Cerrado and the Amazon, demonstrated by our study as the most fragile biomes, have been subjected to the highest agronomic pressure. The results reported here may help to infer the best land-use strategies to improve soil quality and achieve agriculture sustainability. The approach can also be very useful to monitor soil quality in other tropical and subtropical biomes.