The effects of exotic and native poplars on rhizosphere soil microbe and enzyme activity

Abstract

The relationship between tree species and soil microbial communities has attracted much attention in ecology. However, how different poplars species affect soil microbial community and soil enzymes activities are not well studied. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method was used to assess the effects of six plant species on soil microbial community. The results indicate that respirations were significantly higher in planted soil than that in control soil. The order of values of soil respiration rates was: eluosiyang > jiayang > xiaoqingyang > xinganyang > fenglanyang > xiaoyeyang > control. The different poplars species could change soil enzyme activities. The lowest phenol coxidase value was found for xiaoqingyang. The value of acid phosphomonoesterase was particularly high in the rhizosphere of eluosiyang, where it was 1.2 folds higher than that of control soil. In contrast to the other two enzymes, β-glucosidase activity did not differ significantly among parts of poplar species (p>0.05). From the dendrogram, cluster analysis unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) resulted in a dendrogram with four main groups. Group I included jiayang, fenlangyang and xiaoyeyang. Eluosiyang and xinganyang were clustered into Group II. Group III included xiaoqingyang. Group IV contained control.

Key words: Exotic poplar, native poplar, rhizosphere soil, enzyme activities, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD).