Chapter 15. Soil Enzymatic Systems

VATTUONE, M. A.; SGARIGILA, M.A.; SOBERÓN , J.R.; SAMPIETRO, D.A.

Soil Allelochemicals

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Lugar: Houston; Año: 2011; p. 347 - 368

Soil enzymes have been suggested as potential indicators of soil quality because of their essential role in soil biology (Dick et al., 1996). Soil enzyme activities also respond to agronomic practices such as fertilizers, amendments, vegetation cover, pesticides, allelochemicals (Gianfreda and Bollag, 1996) and to preservation practices (Bergstrom et al., 1998; Bergstrom and Monreal, 1998). Soil enzymes are derived primarily from leaving organisms such as soil fungi, bacteria, plant roots, microbial cells and plant and animal residues (Brown, 1973; Cao et al., 2003; Tarafdar and Marschner, 1994). They play a significant role in mediating biochemical transformations involving organic residue decomposition and nutrient cycling in soil (Martens et al., 1992; McLatchey and Reddy, 1998). The presence of soil antioxidant enzymes has an important role in protecting soil components from the oxidative stress. Besides, enzymatic activity can be used as a sensitive index to reveal changes of soil quality due to land management, possible presence of allelochemicals and to monitor soil microorganism activity related to soil nutrient transformation. Because all biochemical transformations in soil are dependent on, or related to the presence of enzymes, studying soil enzyme activities provides insight into biochemical processes in soil. Furthermore, there is growing interest in the applications of soil enzymes as early indicators of soil quality change under contrasting agricultural management practices.