Tillage and residue management effects on β-glucosaminidase activity in soils

There is an increasing interest in assessing the effects of tillage systems and residue management on biochemical processes, especially enzyme activities, of soils. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of three tillage systems (no-till, chisel plow and moldboard plow) and four residue placements (bare, normal, mulch and double mulch) on the activity of N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAGase, EC 3.2.1.30) involved in C and N cycling in soils. The activity values were significantly affected by tillage and residue management practices, being greatest in soils with no-till/double mulch and least with no-till/bare and moldboard/normal. Also, they were the highest under no-till/ double mulch-treated soils. Linear regression analyses showed that the activity of NAGase was significantly correlated with organic C in the surface soils (r=0.89***) and with organic C content at different depths (r=0.97***). The NAGase activity values were significantly correlated with the arylamidase activity values of the soils (r=0.63**), suggesting that tillage and residue management practices have similar impacts on the activities of these enzymes. The activity of this enzyme decreased markedly with increasing depth of the surface soil (0–15 cm) of the no-till/ double mulch-treated plots.