Open AccessHydrolytic soil enzymes and their response to fertilization: a short review
Author(s) -
Angélica Bautista-Cruz,
Yolanda Donají Ortiz-Hernández
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
comunicata scientiae
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.238
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2177-5133
pISSN - 2176-9079
DOI - 10.14295/cs.v6i3.962
Subject(s) - edaphic , biomass (ecology) , human fertilization , soil organic matter , microbial population biology , soil enzyme , soil biology , chemistry , soil quality , soil carbon , environmental chemistry , enzyme , agronomy , enzyme assay , soil water , biology , ecology , bacteria , biochemistry , genetics
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions in living systems, transforming specific substrates into the products needed in biological cycles and for many edaphic processes. Soil enzymatic activities have been proposed as soil quality indicators, due to their relation with soil biology. Although the long-term effects of organic and mineral fertilization on physical and chemical soil properties have been previously studied, little is known about their effects on microbial community structure, microbial biomass carbon, microbial activity and enzymatic activity. Some studies report that organic and mineral fertilizers can affect, be it positively or negatively, microbial biomass size as well as soil microbial activity. This work examines the effect of fertilization on the enzymatic activity of soil hydrolases.