Soil microbial biomass and activity response to repeated drying–rewetting cycles along a soil fertility gradient modified by long-term fertilization management practices

The effects of repeated drying–rewetting (DRW) cycles on the microbial biomass and activity in soils taken from long-term field experiment plots with different fertilization (FERT) management practice histories were studied. We investigated the hypothesis that soil response to DRW cycles differs with soil fertility gradient modified by FERT management practices. The soils were incubated for 51 days, after exposure to either nine or three DRW cycles, or remaining at constant moisture content (CMC) at field capacity. We found that both DRW and FERT significantly affected soil properties including NH4–N, NO3–N, dissolved organic C (DOC), microbial biomass C (Cmic), basal soil respiration rate (BSR), urease activity (URE) and dehydrogenase activity (DHD). Except for NH4–N and BSR, variation in the properties was largely explained by FERT, followed by DRW, and then their interaction. Irrespective of the soilsʹ FERT treatment, repeated DRW cycles significantly raised the DOC and Cmic levels compared with CMC, and the DRW cycles also resulted in a significant decline in BSR and URE and increase in DHD, probably because the organisms were better-adapted to the drying and rewetting stresses. The variations in soil biological properties caused by DRW cycles showed a significantly negative relationship with the soil organic C content measured prior to the start of the DRW experiments, suggesting that soils with higher fertility are better able to maintain their original biological functions (i.e., have a higher functional stability) in response to DRW cycles.