Enzymatic activities and microbial population in agric-soils of Almora district of central Himalaya as influenced by altitudes

Abstract

Abundance of various kind of microorganisms and their activity in soil is a presumptive of fertility status of that soil. Hence, the present study was designed to assess the impact of altitudes on activity of two important soil health bioindicators in agricultural soils of Almora district of Central Himalaya. Seventy two soil samples were collected from agricultural lands at different altitudes of Almora, Uttarakhand, India and were assayed for their electro-chemical properties microbial colony forming unit (cfu) and microbial activities such as dehydrogenase and phosphatase following the standard procedures. It was recorded that soil was acidic in range with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in middle to high range. Also their content in soil increased at high altitude as compared to low altitude. Dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities varied with altitudes and these were high at higher altitudes. Dehydrogenase possessed a significant and positive correlation with nitrogen (r=0.83) and phosphorous (r = 0.64) while phosphatase showed significant and positive correlation with organic carbon (r=0.66). It was concluded that activity of dehydrogenase and phosphatase in soil would be an effective tool to assess the soil health. © 2011 Academic Journals Inc.