Strawberry is an important fruit crop within the UK. To reduce the impact of soil-borne diseases and extend the production season, more than half of the UK strawberry production is now in substrate (predominantly coir) under protection. Substrates such as coir are usually depleted of microbes including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and consequently the introduction of beneficial microbes i...

The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in soil microbial biomass C, microbial metabolic activity, functional diversity, and metabolic diversity pattern during the restoration process of a pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) plantation. In this study, a chronosequence approach was adopted. Three sites of pine plantations along a restoration chronosequence (12 years old (PF12), 25 year...

[1] Permafrost thaw can affect decomposition rates by changing environmental conditions and litter quality. As permafrost thaws, soils warm and thermokarst (ground subsidence) features form, causing some areas to become wetter while other areas become drier. We used a common substrate to measure how permafrost thaw affects decomposition rates in the surface soil in a natural permafrost thaw gra...

Bacillus subtilis B006 strain effectively suppresses the cucumber fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (Foc). The population dynamics of Foc, strain B006 and its surfactin over-producing mutant B841 and surfactin-deficient mutant B1020, in the rhizosphere were determined under greenhouse conditions to elucidate the importance of the lipopeptides excreted by these strain...

With global change expected to alter aspects of the carbon (C) cycle, empirical data describing how microorganisms function in different environmental conditions are needed to increase predictive capabilities of microbially-driven decomposition models. Given the importance of accelerated C fluxes during early decay in C cycling, we characterized how varying litter qualities (maple vs. oak) and ...

The essential oil extracted from mustard (Brassica rapa) seeds was evaluated for its effect on suppression of Rhizoctonia solani growth in vitro, and in field soils, for reducing saprophytic substrate colonization and seedling damping off and blight using snap beans as indicator plant, the in vitro growth was completely inhibited at a concentration of 50 μl/l. The saprophytic substrate coloniza...

Understanding the temperature sensitivity (Q 10) of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition is important for predicting soil carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems under warming scenarios. Whether Q 10 varies predictably with ecosystem succession and the ways in which the stoichiometry of input SOM influences Q 10 remain largely unknown. We investigate these issues using a grassland...

Tree species identity and tree genotypes contribute to the shaping of soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about how these two factors influence soil ecosystem functions is still lacking. Furthermore, in forest ecosystems tree genotypes co-occur and interact with each other, thus the effects of tree genotypic diversity on soil ecosystem functions merit attention. Here we investigated ...

Extracellular enzymes are the proximate agents of organic matter decomposition and measures of these activities can be used as indicators of microbial nutrient demand. We conducted a global-scale meta-analysis of the seven-most widely measured soil enzyme activities, using data from 40 ecosystems. The activities of beta-1,4-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, beta-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase and ph...

The enzyme maltase (glucoinvertase; glucosidosucrase; maltase-glucoamylase; a-glucopyranosidase; glucosidoinvertase; a-D-glucosidase; a-glucoside hydrolase; a-1,4-glucosidase EC 3.2.1.20), is involved in the exo-hydrolysis of 1,4-a-glucosidic linkages and certain oligosaccharides into glucose which is an important energy source for soil microbes. This enzyme originates from different sources, w...