Microbial phenol oxidases and peroxidases mediate biogeochemical processes in soils, including microbial acquisition of carbon and nitrogen, lignin degradation, carbon mineralization and sequestration, and dissolved organic carbon export. Measuring oxidative enzyme activities in soils is more problematic than assaying hydrolytic enzyme activities because of the non-specific, free radical nature...

Calocybe indica, a tropical edible mushroom, is popular because it has good nutritive value and it can be cultivated commercially. The current investigation was undertaken to determine a suitable substrate and the appropriate thickness of casing materials for the cultivation of C. indica. Optimum mycelial growth was observed in coconut coir substrate. Primordia initiation with the different sub...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) proliferate in soil pores, on the surface of soil particles and affect soil structure. Although modifications in substrate moisture retention depend on structure and could influence plant water extraction, mycorrhizal impacts on water retention and hydraulic conductivity were rarely quantified. Hence, we asked whether inoculation with AMF affects substrate wat...

Slow equilibration of introduced chemicals through tortuous pore space limits uniform substrate distribution in soil biodegradation studies. The necessity of introducing poorly soluble xenobiotics via organic solvents, the volume of which is minimized to limit toxicity, likely also affects xenobiotic distribution. Our objective was to investigate relative effects of carrier solvent choice and v...

Due to the lack of scientific knowledge for the use of substrate and best fertilizing method in the growth of Araucaria excelsa, it is crucially important to find the most appropriate planting substrate and fertilizing method. The effect of conventional fertilizing method and the application of Fe nanofertilizer were studied on the growth of A. excelsa in which six fertilizing methods and three...

Microbes in soils and other environments produce extracellular enzymes to depolymerize and hydrolyze organic macromolecules so that they can be assimilated for energy and nutrients. Measuring soil microbial enzyme activity is crucial in understanding soil ecosystem functional dynamics. The general concept of the fluorescence enzyme assay is that synthetic C-, N-, or P-rich substrates bound with...

It is vital to understand responses of soil microorganisms to predicted climate changes, as these directly control soil carbon (C) dynamics. The rate of turnover of soil organic carbon is mediated by soil microorganisms whose activity may be affected by climate change. After one year of multifactorial climate change treatments, at an undisturbed temperate heathland, soil microbial community dyn...

We investigated the effects of two different plant species (corn and soybean) and three different soil types on microbial community structure in the rhizosphere. Our working hypothesis was that the rhizosphere effect would be strongest on fast-growing aerobic heterotrophs, while there would be little or no rhizosphere effect on oligotrophic and other slow-growing microorganisms. Culturable bact...

Forest land-use changes have long been suggested to profoundly affect soil microbial communities. However, how forest type conversion influences soil microbial properties remains unclear in Tibetan boreal forests. The aim of this study was to explore variations of soil microbial profiles in the surface organic layer and subsurface mineral soil among three contrasting forests (natural coniferous...

The flow of plant-derived carbon in soil is a key component of global carbon cycling. Conceptual models of trophic carbon fluxes in soil have assumed separate bacterial and fungal energy channels in the detritusphere, controlled by both substrate complexity and recalcitrance. However, detailed understanding of the key populations involved and niche-partitioning between them is limited. Here, a ...