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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2015, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (4): 16-25.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20150403

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Soil Enzyme Activities of the Litter in Larix kaempferi Plantation

Niu Xiaoyun, Sun Xiaomei, Chen Dongsheng, Zhang Shougong   

  1. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration Research Institute of Forestry, CAF Beijing 100091
  • Received:2014-05-02 Revised:2015-02-05 Online:2015-04-25 Published:2015-05-20

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Abstract:

【Objective The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of variation of soil enzyme activity in the litter decomposed at different extents in Larix kaempferi plantation stands at different development stages, in order to provide a theoretic basis for promoting litter decomposition, speeding up nutrient cycling and alleviating soil degradation.【Method】 Litter samples at different extents of decomposition were collected respectively in mid May, early August and mid October in 2013. Eight soil enzymes related to litter decomposition were chosen to detect their activities and relations with pH-value and water content. 【Result】 The soil enzyme activity was in the following order: un-decomposed litter layer > semi-decomposed layer > decomposed layer, except the enzyme laccase. The enzymes playing major roles were different among litter layers. The activities of amylase and acid phosphatase were the most significant in the un-decomposed litter layer. whereas the activities of laccase and endoglueanase were the highest in the semi-decomposed layer.As in decomposed layer, the activities of laccase, endo-cellulase and β-glucosidase were the most detectable. It showed that amylase and acid phosphatase played the major role in the initial decomposition stage, and laccase and cellulose played the major role in the middle and late stages. On the whole, the soil enzyme activities in the litters were higher in young and mature stands and lower in the pre-mature stand. In the young stand, the cellulase, amylase, invertase and chinase displayed higher activities. In the mature stand, the phosphatase and chinase showed the highest activity. And amylase, invertase and β-glucosidase also showed higher activities. In the pre-mature stand, the amylase, invertase, acid phosphatase, cellulase and chinase displayed lower activities. The activities of amylase, endo-cellulase and β-glucosidase were lower in the middle-age stand than in the young stand, and higher than in the pre-mature stand. The variation trends of soil enzyme activity were consistent with the growth of understory vegetation and contrary to the storage volume of litter. Most enzymes showed the highest activities in May, rather than in August in which the temperature was higher. Furthermore, the analysis of correlation of soil enzyme activity with pH-value and water content showed that soil enzyme activity were influenced by the water content and the pH-value more easily in semi-decomposed layer than in the layers with other extents of decomposition, more easily in pre-mature and mature stands than in stands at other development stages, and in August than in other months. 【Conclusion】 The soil enzymes playing the main role were different among stand development stages and among extents of litter decomposition. Understory vegetation played an important role in the litter decomposition of L. kaempfer plantation. The development of understory vegetation can be promoted by thinning or by introducing natural understory vegetation with high nitrogen content, more tolerance to shading and acid. The pre-mature stand is a turning point in the development of L. kaempfer plantation, whose canopy density is higher and understory vegetation is underdeveloped, therefore, we should pay more attention to the scientific management of pre-mature stand by implementing feasible and workable measures for relieving the soil degradation of L. kaempfer plantation.

Key words: Larix kaempferi, different development stages, litter decomposition, enzyme activity

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