Effects of Hyperaccumulator Sedum Plumbizincicola Intercropped With Maize and Castor on Soil Microbes and Enzyme Activities under Field Conditions

Abstract

Abstract The effects of Sedum plumbizincicola intercropped with maize and castor on soil microbial populations and enzyme activities were investigated under field conditions. The quantity of bacteria found under maize/Sedum plumbizincicola intercrops were significantly reduced by 68.8% when the soil under Sedum plumbizincicola was assessed. The amount of fungi and actinomyces significantly increased by 70.5% and 620.6%, respectively, for Sedum plumbizincicola, while they decreased by 23.2% and 10.7% for maize as compared to counts found in monoculture models. The urease activities of intercropped maize and Sedum plumbizincicola were significantly increased by 63.0% for Sedum plumbizincicola, but no significant change for other intercrop combinations was observed as compared to the enzyme activity of the monoculture. The activities of catalase under maize/Sedum plumbizincicola intercropping were significantly promoted by 16.7% and 28.8%, respectively, but no significant changes were seen under castor/Sedum plumbizincicola intercropping. The activities of invertase on sucrose were enhanced significantly with all intercropping patterns as compared to that observed in the monoculture models. Together, this demonstrates that intercropping patterns are important for improving microbial count and enzyme activity in soil.