Phosphatase activity in soil under mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal cover crops

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate through the phosphatase activity the effect of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal cover crops on biological aspects of phosphorus dynamics in no-tillage systems. Soils under non-mycorrhizal cover crops showed higher acid and alkaline phosphatase activities at flowering, and higher acid phosphatase activity levels persisted after the cover crop season finished. The higher enzymatic activity, related to organic phosphorus mineralization, in soils with non-mycorrhizal species, may be a mechanism to increase phosphorus mobilization in the soil, to compensate for the lack of a mycorrhizal association.