Investigating Variation of Microbial Biomass in Plantation Forests with Age
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Date
2011
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Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka
Abstract
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Soil organic carbon is the basis of sustainable agriculture and is important for chemical, physical and biological fertility. Consequently, carbon soil fertility could be improved more via sequestering. The role of microorganisms is important for carbon sequestration in soil compared to other factors. Thus, by increasing the activity of microorganisms we can increase carbon sequestration and soil fertility.
Plantation forests were originally established in Sri Lanka to provide industrial timber and fuel wood. There are also other uses such as wind protection, bee keeping and oil extraction and moreover they provide invaluable ecosystem services. At present, sites available for reforestation in Sri Lanka are generally poor in nutrients and fertilizer application is required for better growth of seedlings.
A novel approach of research at the IFS is the application of beneficial microbial consortia as biofilm biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture (Seneviratne et al., 2011). These are low cost and are eco-friendly. The shifts in composition and function of the microbial community in response to different stages of forest regeneration play an important role in determining rates of C changes (loss or gain) in the soil (Plante at al., 2005). Hence the long term goal of this study is to produce biofilm bio fertilizer for forest plantations to improve their yields. This would be more beneficial, less expensive and have no detrimental effects to the ecosystems. The biofilm bio fertilizer will be prepared using the microorganisms that have the capability of sequestering more carbon than the others. In this process, identification of the microorganisms and the factors affecting them is a crucial component. There are no studies conducted on this regard in Sri Lankan plantation forests yet. In the current study we investigated how the microbial biomass carbon (MBC) varies in Eucalyptus grandis forests in Sri Lanka with their age. Improved Carbon sequestration in forests would deliver better yields and would assist in minimizing climate change and support in obtaining foreign currency via carbon trading.
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Keywords
Agriculture, Biology, Biodiversity