Abstrait

CHANGES IN SOIL ENZYME ACTIVITIES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PAPER AND BOARD MILL EFFLUENTS

K. Venkateswar Reddy ,T. Vijayalakshmi, A. Uma, L. saida, S. Tirosha

Release of paper and board mill industry effluents on to the agricultural lands causes indicative changes in nutrient cycling and organic matter processing. In the present study, paper and board mills industry effluent discharged soil (test) and undischarged soil (control) were collected from the surrounding areas of paper and board mills industry. The physicochemical, biological properties and soil enzyme activities such as cellulase, amylase, protease and urease were examined. The experimental results indicated that, most of the physicochemical properties such as sand, silt, clay, electrical conductivity, water holding capacity, organic matter and total nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, microbial population and selected enzyme activities were significantly higher in the test sample than in the control. Additionally, activities were increased with increasing the incubation period up to 21 d over 0d, however, activities were adversely affected at 28 .Furthermore, relatively higher activities were observed in soil incubated in the presence of substrate than in the absence of substrate.