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Effect of straw addition on composition and activity of soil microbial biomass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

K. Killham ,
A. H. Sinclair  and
M. F. Allison
K. Killham
Affiliation:
Department of Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.
A. H. Sinclair
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.
M. F. Allison
Affiliation:
Brooms Barm Experimental Station, Higham, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, U.K.
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Synopsis

The size and activity of the fungal component of the straw-decomposing soil microbial biomass was investigated for three sites in eastern Scotland. The fungi were found (by means of selective substrate-amended respiration, FDA-active hyphal lengths, and cellulolytic plate count) increasingly to dominate the soil microbial biomass with repeated enrichment disturbance from straw incorporation. Development of a biomass with a greater fungal component was also associated with an increased biomass C:N ratio response to straw inputs and more rapid decomposition of 14C-labelled straw, suggesting that continued straw incorporation can cause a “substrate-adapted” microbial biomass to develop which is able to decompose straw increasingly rapidly.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 94: Fungi and Ecological Disturbance , 1988 , pp. 135 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1988

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