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Updated: May 14, 2026

High-throughput Fluorometric Measurement of Potential Soil Extracellular Enzyme Activities
Published on: November 15, 2013
[Study on soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass carbon in greenland irrigated with reclaimed water]
Neng Pan1, Zhen-An Hou, Wei-Ping Chen
1State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. panneng.ok@163.com
Abstract:
The physicochemical properties of soils might be changed under the long-term reclaimed water irrigation. Its effects on soil biological activities have received great attentions. We collected surface soil samples from urban green spaces and suburban farmlands of Beijing. Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), five types of soil enzyme activities (urease, alkaline phosphatase, invertase, dehydrogenase and catalase) and physicochemical indicators in soils were measured subsequently. SMBC and enzyme activities from green land soils irrigated with reclaimed water were higher than that of control treatments using drinking water, but the difference is not significant in farmland. The SMBC increased by 60.1% and 14.2% than those control treatments in 0-20 cm soil layer of green land and farmland, respectively. Compared with their respective controls, the activities of enzymes in 0-20 cm soil layer of green land and farmland were enhanced by an average of 36.7% and 7.4%, respectively. Investigation of SMBC and enzyme activities decreased with increasing of soil depth. Significantly difference was found between 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil layer in green land. Soil biological activities were improved with long-term reclaimed water irrigation in Beijing.
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