home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Changes in soil microbial communities as affected by intensive cattle husbandry

Elhottová, D.; Koubová, A.; Simek, M.; Cajthaml, T.; Jirout, J.; Esperschuetz, J.; Schloter, M. and Gattimger, A. (2012) Changes in soil microbial communities as affected by intensive cattle husbandry. Applied Soil Ecology, 58, pp. 56-65.

[thumbnail of Elhottova-etal-2012-ApplSoilEcol-58-p56-65.pdf] PDF - Published Version - English
Limited to [Depositor and staff only]

392kB


Summary

The present field study documents substantial changes in the soil microbial community (SMC) and organic matter (SOM) in an upland pasture soil resulting from 10 years of “cattle outdoor over-wintering practice”.
Soils from a long-term investigated pasture area were compared under three different levels of cattle impact (SI – severe, MI – moderate, NI – no impact). Extended polar lipids analysis (PLA) confirmed a qualitatively new microbial community profile and a several-fold increase of the microbial biomass in the impacted soils (SI) compared to the control NI soil. The new SMC was derived from cattle intestine microorganisms, typical by increased content of archaeal phospholipid ether lipids and by new fatty acids indicative for bacterial and fungal fecal anaerobes. A quality of the SI-SOM, evaluated by the relative content of the pyrolytic fragments profile was more similar to the cattle excrements than to the MI and NI soils, and an organic carbon content of the SI soil was not more than three times higher in comparison to the control NI soil. The quality and quantity of the SOM as well as the SMC in both, the most impacted SI and the control NI soils, were stable in contrast to the moderately impacted MI soil. During the growing season, the MI soil lost 75% of the Corg and 65% of the soil microbial biomass that had accumulated during winter; its aromatic-rich-SOM showed transformation into SOM, enriched by N, P-organic derivates. This transformation was positively correlated to a significant recovery of the actinobacteria and reduction of anaerobic microorganisms during the vegetation season. Results in this study showed that the stability of the soil microbial changes due to the cattle outdoor over-wintering husbandry depended on the stability of the quantitative and qualitative changes of the SOM.
© 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:Outdoor husbandry, PLFA/PLEL, Organic matter pyrolysis, Anaerobic microbial biomass, Excrements, Pasture soil, Bodenwissenschaften
Subjects: Animal husbandry > Production systems > Beef cattle
Soil
Research affiliation: Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil
Czech Republic > University of South Bohemia (JU)
ISSN:0929-1393
DOI:10.1016/j.apsoil.2012.03.009
Deposited By: Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, FiBL
ID Code:21770
Deposited On:13 Nov 2012 11:48
Last Modified:12 Jan 2021 10:52
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics