Title : Soil enzymes and microbial communities as soil quality indicators in organic and good agriculture practices under fruit orchard management in Northern Thailand
Abstract:
The Northern Thailand is one of the locations where fruit crops have long been grown, for many decades. At this present, organic farming and good agriculture practices (GAP) are considered for improving yield and quality as sustainable practices to reduce environmental impacts. On the organic system, soil fertility is conserved largely with manure and compost fertilizers in contrast to GAP that combine both organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizers, and commonly apply suitable amounts of pesticides or herbicides. There is little information on the impacts of organic system and GAP on the soil quality in Thailand. Soil enzymes and soil microbial communites indice as indicators of changes in soil quality under differing management practices. Therefore, in this study, we compared soil enzymes and microbial communities of soil samples under mango and longan orchards both in organic farming and GAP at Maejo University, Chiangmai, Thailand. The soil samples under fruit crops canopies were sampled (0-25 cm depth) and analyzed for 5 enzyme activities (acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, β-glucosidase, N-Acetyl-β-glucosaminidase and arylsulfatase) and microbial community structure by ester-linked fatty acid methyl ester (EL-FAME) methods. Organic management occured in memorably higher soil enzyme activities such as acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase and arylsulfatase both in mango and longan orchards. Even though, GAP resulted in high reading of alkaline phosphatase and N-Acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. Total fungal, bacterial and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) by EL-FAME biomarkers were higher stimulated by the organic framing system than GAP. Management systems explained non-significant, on average of actinomycetes community indicators. The majority of impacts on soil enzymes and soil microbial properties occurred when only organic fertilizer was added under fruit crops canopies indicating that this practice had the biggest impact for improving soil quality.
Audience Take Away:
- This research will give information of soil quality under organic and GAP.
- For understanding the technique of soil enzymes and microbial community method.
- To explain advantage of both organic and GAP for sustainable agricultural.
- Encouraging people to care and protect environment.
