The effect of management practice of montane meadows in the Bohemian Forest on selected soil biological and chemical properties

0206360 - UPB-H 20023004 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Šimek, Miloslav - Šantrůčková, Hana - Uhlířová, Eva - Záhora, J. - Picek, T. - Brychtová, L. - Šetlík, J.
The effect of management practice of montane meadows in the Bohemian Forest on selected soil biological and chemical properties.
Silva Gabreta. Roč. 7, - (2001), s. 69-78. ISSN 1211-7420
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/99/1410
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z6066911
Keywords : microbial community * grassland * mulching
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour

Selected properties of soil microbial community and some soil chemical characteristics were studied in relation to the management of montane grassland in the Bohemian Forest. The grassland had been regularly mown until 1997 when the field experiment was established. Three experimental treatments were investigated: mowing, mulching and abandonment. For the purpose of this study, the soils were sampled in 1999 and 2000. It was found that both mulching and abandonment led to decrease in both soil microbial biomass and overall microbial activity expressed as dehydrogenase activity, as compared to the control mown plot. In contrary, there was no clear effect of management practice on basal soil respiration and denitrifying enzyme activity. Study on soil nitrogen availability showed rather distinct pattern of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen content in the soils, as well as major differences in accumulation of the both nitrogen forms in soil profiles of the three variants. Laboratory experiment focused on the rate of cellulose mineralization in the soils under study revealed an increased decomposition of organic substrate in the mulched and abandoned plots in comparison with the mown variant. It was concluded that shift of grassland management from mowing to mulching and/or abandonment caused changes in soil microbial community and in nutrient cycling in a relatively short timeperiod.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0101954