Effects of typical soil types and land use patterns on soil enzyme activities in Guangdong Province

Soil enzyme activities have been used as bioindicators for soil quality and health due to their high sensitivity to soil changes. With the intensity and amplification of land use, the impacts on soil fertility, nutrient status and soil enzyme activities by land use changes and soil types received more and more attentions. In this paper, field investigation and lab experiment analysis were carried out to study activities of catalase, cellulose, invertase, urease, and protease in the surface soil (0-20cm). Three soil types including Latosolic red soil, Red soil, Latosol and four land use patterns including grassland, forest, farmland and orchard were selected in this study. Results showed that land use patterns and soil types affected activities of cellulose, invertase, urease, and protease. Higher activities in forest lands and orchard were found compared to those in the cropland and grassland. Soil type had less pronounced effect on enzyme activities compared to agricultural land use pattern. The response of activity of ctalase was weaker than those of the other studied enzymes. The results of canonical correlation analysis showed that total P, available P and available N were the domain factors influencing soil enzyme activities, especially cellulose and protease activities. There were also correlations between the various soil enzyme activities.