Depth profile exploration of enzyme activity and culturable microbial community from the oxygen-starved soil of Sundarban mangrove forest, India

Subhajit Das, Tarun Kumar Sarkar, Minati De, Dipnarayan Ganguly, Tusher Kanti Maiti, Abhishek Mukherjee, Tapan Kumar Jana, Tarun Kumar De

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DOI: 10.4236/oje.2011.13009                

Abstract

Populations of culturable microbes and activities of dehydrogenase & ?-D glucosidase were found maximum in surface soil and decreased with increase in depth in Sundarban mangrove environment.The maximum (13.529 X 106 C.F.U g-1 dry weight of soil) and minimum (11.547 X 106 C.F.U g-1 dry weight of soil) total microbial popu- lations in surface soil were recorded during po- st-monsoon and monsoon respectively. At 60 cm depth, the lower (6.396 X 106 C.F.U g-1 dry weight of soil) and higher (8.003 X 106 C.F.U g-1 dry weight of soil) numbers of total microbial populations were observed during monsoon and post-monsoon respectively. A decreasing trend of total microbial load, enzyme activities and nutrient status with organic carbon were found with increase in depth throughout the year. Present study revealed the relationship among depth integrated variations of physico-chemical compo- nents (viz. soil temperature, pH, moisture, orga- nic-C, .nitrogen, and available-P) and microbial populations as well as activity of dehydrogenase and ?-D glucosidase enzymes.

Keywords

Sundarban; Mangrove Sediment; Enzyme Activities; Depth; Microbial Populations

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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