The effects of rice-straw annual application on nitrogen fixing microbial flora in the soil of paddy fields and their biological activities were investigated. Experiments were performed in both NPK fertilizer applied soil and rice-straw applied soil o...
The effects of rice-straw annual application on nitrogen fixing microbial flora in the soil of paddy fields and their biological activities were investigated. Experiments were performed in both NPK fertilizer applied soil and rice-straw applied soil of Agricultural Station in Aomori-ken, Japan. The following results were obtained. 1. The ARA by phototrophs was significantly increased in both soil plots. From the soil plot in which 300ppm-nitrogen was applied, the increase of ARA began to be seen from three weeks later. On the other hand, 33ppm-nitrogen applied soil plot and non-nitrogen applied soil plot showed the ARA increase from the beginning. The amount of ARA by non-phototrophs was only one-tenth of that by phototrophs. 2. For the first three weeks, the phototrophic bacteria (mainly Rhodopseudomonas) were predominant in both soil plots. Since then, as the ARA rapidly increased, the proliferation of blue-green algae forming heterocysts was remarkably promoted. Such effects were more distinct in the rice-straw annually applied soil plot than in the NPK fertilizer annually applied soil plot. 3. The degree of proliferation of blue-green algae depended on the amount of applied nitrogen. While Anabaena, Nostoc and Cylindrospermum were largely proliferated in the non-nitrogen applied soil plot, Cylindrospermum and Calothrix were in the 33ppm-nitrogen applied soil plot, but Calothrix tended to predominated in the 100ppm-nitrogen applied soil plot.