JOURNAL of Soil Biology and Ecology

Author: D.SRINIVAS AND P. CHANDRASEKHAR RAO

Abstract :

The enzyme phosphatase plays an important role in the mineralization of organically bound P that leads to absorption of P by the plants. Phosphatases are inducible enzymes that are produced predominantly under conditions of low phosphorus availability. The abiotic enzymes present in the soil play an important role in catalyzing several important reactions necessary for the life processes of microorganisms in soils and thereby stabilizing the soil structure, the decomposition of organic wastes, organic matter formation, and nutrient cycling. When the temperatures are increased due to various changes caused by global warming it has a profound influence on soil enzymes. Every enzyme has its optimum temperature below which the enzyme activity is less due to inactivation. Further, with an increase in temperature the enzymes get denatured and result in a decrease in nutrient availability and indirectly affecting productivity. To study the effect of temperature on soil enzyme activity,  four alfisols and four vertisols were collected and labortory incubation studies were carried out at different temperatures ranging from 20oC to 90oC. The acid phosphatase activity (µg of 4-nitrophenol g-1 soil h-1) ranged from 62.3 to 516.4 in alfisols while in vertisols the activity varied from 35.1 to 486.0. Temperature coefficient values (Q10) were calculated in the temperature range of 20 to 90oC. These values depending on the type of soil varied from 0.42 to 1.91 in alfisols and 0.36 to 1.95 in vertisols.

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