Soil respiratory and enzyme activities in leachate-contaminated soils with different application rate of cow manure compost: a laboratory study

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of cow manure compost (CMC) application on respiratory and enzyme activities of leachate-polluted soils. Soils treated with various levels of leachate (0, 12.5, 25, 37.5, and 50 ml leachate per 300 g soil) were amended with 0, 25 and 50 g CMC, respectively. Soil pH, respiration and enzyme activities were evaluated by regularly repeated sampling. Addition of CMC neutralized pH and maintained it within the range of 6.4–6.7 in a long run. Respiration was increased neither by leachate nor by CMC. This probably results from deterioration of soil compaction, biotoxicity of leachate, or increased fungi proportion. Enzyme activities increased with increasing CMC application but decoupled with leachate addition rate, reasonably attributed to pH neutralization and high content of humus in CMC. Thus, pH value and humus content could be considered as key items affecting soil enzyme activities.