Effects of cattle-slurry treatment on the microorganisms of the carbon- and sulphur-cycles in the soil
1988
Acea, María José | Carballas, Tarsy | Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (España)
The addition of cattle slurry to the soil brings about an increase in the number of microorganisms of the carbon and sulphur cycles, though the levels attained do not exceed normal large population densities. The dynamics of the rise depend on the chemical and microbial composition of the slurry and the process by which it is incorporated into the soil. The aerobic cellulolytic and pectinolytic populations are favoured in the long term, whereas the numbers of anaerobic cellulolytics and amylolytics increase rapidly on slurry treatment only to fall sharply shortly thereafter, and in the case of amylolytics these processes result in a net fall in population density. The rise in microbial populations after slurry treatment is due more to the added numbers of microorganisms present in the slurry itself than to the substrate stimulating a population growth, but whereas added elemental sulphur oxidizers survive, anaerobic microorganisms such as sulphate reducers and anaerobic organic sulphur mineralizers die off after a short time.
Show more [+] Less [-]We thank Sr J. Caballo for drawing the Figures for this paper. This work was supported by Comisión Asesora de Investigacion Cientifica y Técnica Grant 260 10-06 from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia.
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