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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2004, p. 2577-2587, Vol. 70, No. 5
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.5.2577-2587.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Impact of Soil Drying-Rewetting Stress on Microbial Communities and Activities and on Degradation of Two Crop Protection Products

Manuel Pesaro,1,2 Gilles Nicollier,3 Josef Zeyer,1 and Franco Widmer2*

Soil Biology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, ETH Zürich, CH-8952 Schlieren,1 Molecular Ecology, Agroscope FAL Reckenholz, CH-8046 Zürich,2 Ecochemistry, Syngenta Crop Protection AG, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland3

Received 7 October 2003/ Accepted 15 January 2004

Prior to registration of crop protection products (CPPs) their persistence in soil has to be determined under defined conditions. For this purpose, soils are collected in the field and stored for up to 3 months prior to the tests. During storage, stresses like drying may induce changes in microbiological soil characteristics (MSCs) and thus may influence CPP degradation rates. We investigated the influence of soil storage-related stress on the resistance and resilience of different MSCs by assessing the impact of a single severe drying-rewetting cycle and by monitoring recovery from this event for 34 days. The degradation and mineralization of the fungicide metalaxyl-M and the insecticide lufenuron were delayed by factors of 1.5 to 5.4 in the dried and rewetted soil compared to the degradation and mineralization in an undisturbed reference. The microbial biomass, as estimated by direct cell counting and from the soil DNA content, decreased on average by 51 and 24%, respectively. The bulk microbial activities, as determined by measuring substrate-induced respiration and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, increased after rewetting and recovered completely within 6 days after reequilibration. The effects on Bacteria, Archaea, and Pseudomonas were investigated by performing PCR amplification of 16S rRNA genes and reverse-transcribed 16S rRNA, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and terminal RFLP (T-RFLP) fingerprinting. Statistical analyses of RFLP and T-RFLP profiles indicated that specific groups in the microbial community were sensitive to the stress. In addition, evaluation of rRNA genes and rRNA as markers for monitoring the stress responses of microbial communities revealed overall similar sensitivities. We concluded that various structural and functional MSCs were not resistant to drying-rewetting stress and that resilience depended strongly on the parameter investigated.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Agroscope FAL Reckenholz, Swiss Federal Research Station for Agroecology and Agriculture, Molecular Ecology, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zürich, Switzerland. Phone: 41 (0)1 377 73 76. Fax: 41 (0)1 377 72 01. E-mail: franco.widmer{at}fal.admin.ch.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2004, p. 2577-2587, Vol. 70, No. 5
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.5.2577-2587.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lee, Y. B., Lorenz, N., Dick, L. K., Dick, R. P. (2007). Cold Storage and Pretreatment Incubation Effects on Soil Microbial Properties. Soil Sci. 71: 1299-1305 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thies, J. E. (2007). Soil Microbial Community Analysis using Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms. Soil Sci. 71: 579-591 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sanchez, M. A., Vasquez, M., Gonzalez, B. (2004). A Previously Unexposed Forest Soil Microbial Community Degrades High Levels of the Pollutant 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 7567-7570 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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