In the mountainous regions, where irrigation water is scarce and temperatures are less than ideal, we aimed to explore the combined effects of mulching and organic manure on organic carbon fluctuations, microbial populations and enzymatic activities in soil under ginger. A two-year field study (2021 and 2022) was conducted at Dr. YS Parmar University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, using a split plot design. Main plot treatments included grass (straw) mulch, black plastic mulch (25 and 100 µ thickness). Sub plot treatments consisted of farmyard manure (FYM), vermicompost (VC) and sheep-goat manure (SGM), alone or in combination. Grass mulch showed the highest soil organic carbon content (19.02 g kg− 1), viable bacteria (132.65 × 106 ± 1.66 cfu g− 1 soil), fungi (35.73 × 103 ± 1.86 cfu g− 1 soil), actinomycetes count (45.50 × 103 ± 0.78 cfu g− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (646.17 ± 8.77 µg of p-NPP g− 1 soil hr− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.16 ± 0.15 mg TPF g− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 17.84 ± 0.20 mg NH3-N g− 1 soil per hr urease) among mulches. Among the sub plot treatments, FYM combined with 50% RDF (recommended dose of fertilizers) through FYM and SGM generated the best results in terms of soil organic carbon (17.63 g kg− 1) microbial counts (135.40 × 106 ± 2.58 cfu g− 1 soil viable bacteria, 39.93 × 103 ± 1.92 cfu g− 1 soil viable fungi and 44.48 × 103 ± 0.99 cfu g− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (524.06 ± 11.33 µg of p-NPP g− 1 soil hr− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.55 ± 0.10 mg TPF g− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 18.04 ± 0.17 mg NH3-N g− 1 soil per hr urease). Positive correlations were observed between soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial populations and enzymatic activities. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed two key components explaining 94.5% of the total variance in soil health parameters under mulching and manuring, with PC1 (79.4%) dominated by organic carbon, microbial counts and enzymatic activities and PC2 (15.1%) mainly associated with enzymatic functions. The synergistic effects of grass mulch and FYM with SGM provide a blueprint for resilient soil ecosystems.

Linking soil enzymes and microbial community dynamics with organic carbon fluctuations for sustaining the soil health

期刊论文
出版模式：

开放获取
发表日期：

2026年3月19日

查看全文

Manisha Negi,
Pardeep Kumar,
Anjali Chauhan,
Saurabh Sharma,
Happy Dev Sharma,
Kapil Sharma

摘要

In the mountainous regions, where irrigation water is scarce and temperatures are less than ideal, we aimed to explore the combined effects of mulching and organic manure on organic carbon fluctuations, microbial populations and enzymatic activities in soil under ginger. A two-year field study (2021 and 2022) was conducted at Dr. YS Parmar University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, using a split plot design. Main plot treatments included grass (straw) mulch, black plastic mulch (25 and 100 µ thickness). Sub plot treatments consisted of farmyard manure (FYM), vermicompost (VC) and sheep-goat manure (SGM), alone or in combination. Grass mulch showed the highest soil organic carbon content (19.02 g kg^− 1), viable bacteria (132.65 × 10⁶ ± 1.66 cfu g^− 1 soil), fungi (35.73 × 10³ ± 1.86 cfu g^− 1 soil), actinomycetes count (45.50 × 10³ ± 0.78 cfu g^− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (646.17 ± 8.77 µg of p-NPP g^− 1 soil hr^− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.16 ± 0.15 mg TPF g^− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 17.84 ± 0.20 mg NH₃-N g^− 1 soil per hr urease) among mulches. Among the sub plot treatments, FYM combined with 50% RDF (recommended dose of fertilizers) through FYM and SGM generated the best results in terms of soil organic carbon (17.63 g kg^− 1) microbial counts (135.40 × 10⁶ ± 2.58 cfu g^− 1 soil viable bacteria, 39.93 × 10³ ± 1.92 cfu g^− 1 soil viable fungi and 44.48 × 10³ ± 0.99 cfu g^− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (524.06 ± 11.33 µg of p-NPP g^− 1 soil hr^− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.55 ± 0.10 mg TPF g^− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 18.04 ± 0.17 mg NH₃-N g^− 1 soil per hr urease). Positive correlations were observed between soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial populations and enzymatic activities. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed two key components explaining 94.5% of the total variance in soil health parameters under mulching and manuring, with PC1 (79.4%) dominated by organic carbon, microbial counts and enzymatic activities and PC2 (15.1%) mainly associated with enzymatic functions. The synergistic effects of grass mulch and FYM with SGM provide a blueprint for resilient soil ecosystems.