Different water and nitrogen level effects on soil microbial properties of spinach

Abstract

Understanding the interactions of plant soil environment and rhizosphere microbial changes are necessary to develop new strategies for the sustainable agriculture. A field experiment with combination of three water levels and three nitrogen rates was conducted to investigate the effect of water and nitrogen management on the changes of soil microbial properties in non-rhizosphere and rhizosphere soils of spinach. Non-Rhizosphere and rhizosphere microbial diversities were affected by water and nitrogen applications. Evenness index in the no-nitrogen treatment was more than that of 85 and 170 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatments in the non-rhizosphere or rhizosphere soil. Microbial biomass carbon in non-rhizosphere soil or rhizosphere soil decreased with the increase of nitrogen application, but showed the highest value in 16.5% of soil water content, followed by 12.5% and 20.5% of soil water content. Soil microbial biomass phosphorus content of 85 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatment in the non-rhizosphere soil or rhizosphere soil was significantly different for 0 and 170 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatments. Nitrification rate increased with the increase of soil water content in 0 and 170 kg ha–1 treatments. Our results demonstrated that water and nitrogen could impact the soil fertility and microbial activity of spinach.