Effect Of Intercropping Pattern Of Chestnut With Tea On Soil Enzyme Activity And Soil Nutrient

Chestnut (Castanea mollissima Bl.) is a deciduous deep-rooted tree which needs more sunlight, whereas tea (Cameillia sinensis Kuntze) is an evergreen shallow-rooted small shrub tolerant to shade. It will provide a good ecological basis with a more reasonable allocation of space, harmonious relationship between species and full use of the surrounding resources to intercrop chestnut with tea. The Intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea is an important complex business model popularized that is efficient in solution of some ecological problems like the soil erosion, the decline of soil fertility and productivity, and the increase of the farmers' income in the area of Dabie Mountain, the West of Anhui province.Soil enzyme is the most active bioactive substances in the ecosystem of the material circulation, energy flow and etc. reflecting the soil condition directly and may reflect the dynamic change of nutrition in soil at a certain extent. So it is an essential part in the evaluation of soil biochemical characteristics and soil fertility. The activity of soil enzyme has almost become an indispensable index in the research of soil ecosystem, but the effect of soil enzyme activity on complex business model in agroforestry has rarely been reported till now.Based on the ecological theory about intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea, the content of soil nutrition and the activity of soil enzyme were integrated as whole to study the soil circumstance in the field of intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea. It was knew that the intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea had played an important role in improvement of the soil nutrition and reform the ecological systematic surroundings after studying the effect of intercropping of chestnut and tea on soil enzyme activity and nutrition. The analysis of correlation between the soil enzyme activity and soil nutrition showed that the soil enzyme activity could be regarded as an important index in the valuation of soil fertility. The representative results gained are as follows:1. The intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea could increase the content of organic matter, total nitrogen, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, total phosphorus, available phosphorus, total potassium and available potassium at different degree in compared to the chestnut or tea monoculture. The soil enzyme activity in the intercropping pattern of chestnut with tea was obviously higher than that in chestnut or tea monoculture. The activity of all enzyme basically was in the same changing trend with the plant growth phase higher as plant grow vigorously in summer and lower in spring or autumn except the polyphenol oxidase. 2. The result of correlation analysis showed that there was a positive relation between soil enzyme activity and soil nutrition, but obvious difference existed in different cropping patterns. It was unfeasible to evaluate soil fertility according to the activity of a single enzyme.3. According to the canonical correlation analysis there was a significant canonical correlation between the Integral soil enzyme activity factor and the Integral soil fertility factor in the three different cropping patterns tested. The activity of polyphenol oxidase, catalase, amylase and urease had close relations to the content of soil total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic matter. In addition it was proposed that the Integral soil enzyme activity factor could be regarded as an important index of soil fertility.