We measured nitrogen transformations and loss following forest clearing in a relatively fertile tropical forest site. Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and amounts of ammonium and nitrate increased substantially in surface soils during the 6 mo following burning, then returned to background levels. The nitrogen content of microbial biomass declined to half its original value 6 mo after cl...

Three techniques for estimating rumen protein degradability were used together with in vivo apparent nitrogen digestibility estimates from sheep fed dried chopped Pangola grass or Siratro. The techniques used were 1) nitrogen disappearance from nylon bags suspended in the rumen, 2) S labelling of rumen microbial protein with plant nitrogen degradability calculated as the difference between micr...

To understand effects of soil microbes on soil biochemistry in alpine grassland ecosystems under environmental changes, we explored relationships between soil microbial diversity and soil total nitrogen, organic carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities in alpine meadow, alpine steppe and cultivated grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau unde...

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition profoundly alters the soil microbial communities and will thus affect nutrient cycles. The effects of N availability on microbial community, however, are not clear. We used PLFA analysis to evaluate the effects of a gradient of N addition (0, 2.8, 5.6, 11.2, and 22.4 g N m-2 y-1) for three years on the rhizospheric microbial community of Pinus tabuliformis se...

Having evolved as a grazing animal, a horse's digestive physiology is characterized by rapid gastric transit, a rapid but intense enzymatic digestion along the small intestine, and a long and intense microbial fermentation in the large intestine. The process of understanding and describing feed degradation mechanisms in the equine digestive system in general, and in the hindgut ecosystem in par...

the possibility of manufacturing and effects of a slow release non-protein nitrogen product on ruminant nutrition were evaluated in two separate experiments. in first experiment, making of slow release component was followed by connecting branched carbon chain to the molecule of urea to reduce the degree of solubility. then, the sample product was analyzed to assess its chemical structure, and ...

The effect of agricultural land use change on soil microbial community composition and biomass remains a widely debated topic. Here, we investigated soil microbial community composition and biomass [e.g., bacteria (B), fungi (F), Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Actinomycete (ACT)] using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis, and basal microbial respiration in afforested, cropland and...

Mulching is widely used to increase crop yield in semiarid regions in northwestern China, but little is known about the effect of different mulching systems on the microbial properties of the soil, which play an important role in agroecosystemic functioning and nutrient cycling. Based on a 4-year spring maize (Zea mays L.) field experiment at Changwu Agricultural and Ecological Experimental Sta...

composting process, as one or the other is normally a limiting factor. Carbon serves primarily as an energy source for the microorganisms, while a small fraction of the carbon is incorporated in their cells. Nitrogen is critical for microbial population growth, as it is a constituent of protein which forms over 50 percent of dry bacterial cell mass. If nitrogen is limiting, microbial population...