Enzyme activity of Chromic Luvisols under different degree of erosion and land use

Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious environmental problem and a threat to the sustainableagriculture production. Little information is available on enzyme activities of erodedsoils in Bulgaria, especially on their relations to the degree of erosion and soilproperties. In this work, slightly, moderately and severely eroded Chromic Luvisolsunder different land use (pasture, crop field and virgin) were studied. Enzyme activities(invertase, catalase and phosphatase), total nitrogen, total carbon, availablephosphorus contents and soil particle distribution were determined and possiblerelations between them were examined. Data showed that enzyme activities tended tolower with increasing the degree of erosion. This was better pronounced for invertaseand phosphatase in pasture and virgin soils. Depending on land use, all enzymeactivities decreased in the order pasture > virgin > crop field soils, showing positiveimpact of soil cover and negative effect of cultivation practices. Soil invertase andphosphatase activities were in close relations with soil carbon content. The activities ofcatalase and phosphatase correlated positively with soil clay. Invertase only was inpositive relation with soil silt and in negative relation with the sand content. Dataobtained are intended to contribute to development of biological indicators of erodedsoils.