Growth Effects Of Different Shrubs Under Water Stress On Soil Physiochemical And Microbial Properties

The dry valley of the upper reaches of the Minjiang River is seriously degradedmountain ecosystem. It was endangered by extremely soil lost and frequentlygeological disaster. Previous studies showed that short of water and nutrients in soilwas the principal limiting factors of vegetation restoration in this area. The typical soiland three dominant leguminous shrubs Sophora davidii, Bauhinia faberi var.microphylla and Campylotropics polyantha in upper reaches of arid Minjiang Rivervalley were considered as experimental material. Two-month old seedlings of eachspecies were exposed to five water supplies (100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% waterfield capacity (FC)) in a temperature and light-controlled greenhouse. Afterthree-month water treatment, soil physiochemical variables and soil microbialactivities were determined by conventional methods. The main results showed that:1. Soil capillary capacity and capillary porosity decreased along water supplyregimes in all treatments, while saturated water capacity, total porosity and bulkdensity kept in a relatively stable level, as a result, the non-capillary porosity andcapacity increased with decrease of water supply. Compared to non-planted soil, theplant-soil systems had a higher non-capillary porosity and capacity, suggestingappropriate oxygen was present in soil to maintain the living of microorganism. Soilof three type shrub species shared the same capillary capacity and capillary porosityunder 20% FC.2. Water soluble carbon and NH₄⁺-N decreased in response to water stress, whiletotal organic carbon and NO₃^--N promoted by moderate water stress and inhibited by 100% and 20% FC. Total organic carbon, NH₄⁺-N, rapidly available K and availableP increased after the planting of leguminous shrubs in five water supply regimescompared to non-planted soil. For TOC, NH₄⁺-N and rapidly available K, thepromotion effect was higher in S. davidii and B. faberi var. microphylla than C.polyantha planted soil, while available P displayed the opposite side. The planting ofshrubs also reduced the variance of observed traits along water supply gradients.3. Drought stress increased urease activity in non-planted soil, while insignificantdifferences were observed in phosphatase and catalase activity among five watersupply regimes. The planting of leguminous shrubs facilitated theβ-glucosidase andphosphatase activity compared to the non-planted soil. It also reduced the variance ofenzyme activity along water supply gradients. Urease was more sensitive to waterstress than other three enzymes.4. Soil water content significantly affected microbial biomass carbon andCmic:Corg. S. davidii and B. faberi var. microphylla showed more drought toleranceability than C. polyantha, attributing not only to their relatively smaller variance ofmicrobial biomass carbon along soil water supply gradients, but also to the highlevel of microbial activity under severe water stress. S. davidii and B. faberi var.microphylla benefited reproduction of soil microorganism at 60%-80% FC, whilesevere drought limited it due to the competition of water and nutrients between plantand soil microorganism.