[Character of short-term changes in the total number of soil bacteria, including ammonifiers, during the growing...

The total incidence of bacteria and the number of ammonificators were assayed to the direct count and plating techniques, respectively, several times within the vegetative period in the course of ten days under the field conditions. The incidence of the former and the latter varied though not in parallel, and the variations were temporal. The total bacterial incidence depended considerably on soil water content; in ammonificators, moisture determined only the level at which their number changed. The character of oscillations is suggestive of the rate of microbial growth at different periods of the vegetative stage. Daily determination of their number several times within the same period may result in contradictory conclusions.