ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Effect of Tillage System on Soil Microbiota
in Relation to Soil Structure
Dalia Janušauskaite, Gražina Kadžienė, Ona Auškalnienė
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Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry,
Instituto al. 1, Akademija, Dotnuva, LT-58344 Kedainiai distr., Lithuania
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2013;22(5):1387-1391
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ABSTRACT
Adoption of sustainable tillage can protect soils from biological degradation and maintain soil quality,
as compared with conventional management. This paper presents findings from a long-term tillage experiment
carried out in Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisols on a sandy loam soil in Lithuania. The tillage systems
were: conventional (CT), moderate (MT), and no tillage (NT). Tillage intensity positively affected microbial
substrate utilization and urease activity, as well as, negatively, dehydrogenase activity, bacteria and fungi
amounts, and Shannon diversity index of microbiological community. Higher total porosity provoked higher
enzyme activity; but, microbial activity correlated negatively with bulk density.