Various Fertilization Strategies Regulates the Utilization Efficiency and Limitation of Microbial Resource Via Soil Nutrient Availability in Eucalyptus urophylla Plantations
摘要
Fertilization alters soil properties and microbial activity, yet its effects on soil microbial extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs) and microbial resource limitations in Eucalyptus plantations remain unclear. This study aim to explore the responsive mechanisms of soil extracellular enzyme activity and microbial resource limitation to fertilization, and to provide reference for Eucalyptus plantation management. This study investigated the impacts of different fertilization treatments, including nitrogen fertilizer (NF), compound fertilizer (CF), organic fertilizer (OF), nitrogen fertilizer combined with organic fertilizer (NOF), and compound fertilizer combined with organic fertilizer (COF), on soil microbial EEAs and nutrient limitations in an eight-year-old Eucalyptus urophylla plantations in Leizhou Peninsula, China. NF treatment temporarily increased P-acquiring enzymes (P-acq) activity, mobilizing recalcitrant soil phosphorus (P), and resulted in the highest soil nutrient content after one year experiment. All fertilization treatments mitigated microbial carbon (C) limitation at three and six months post-fertilization but exacerbated C limitation at twelve months post-fertilization. Structural equation modeling (SEM) further demonstrated that fertilization altered microbial C use efficiency (CUE) and N use efficiency (NUE) by adjusting soil nutrient stoichiometry (C: N:P) and availability, and ultimately driving shifts in C or P limitation. Organic-inorganic fertilization combinations temporarily increased the available nutrients to relieved C limitation but aggravated it after one year observation when the available nutrients decreased and microbial activity weakened. NF treatment enhanced P-acq activity and elevated total soil nutrients. These findings provide profound insights for optimizing fertilization strategies in subtropical plantation practices.