Effects of green manure on soil nutrients and bio-properties of Castanea mollissima Blume plantations

Intensive management on Castanea mollissima Blume plantations with weeds being cleared away is popular.However,it can be predicted that soil qualities would be changed as a result.The objective of this study is to test the effects of green manure on soil nutrients and bio-properties under C. mollissima plantations.A manure trial with planting rye grass,white clover,green gram,the mixture of three of them, and the control with no vegetation (CK) was conducted.It was found that soil total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) were much higher (P<0. 0 5) in the plots planted with green manure than those in the control,and the similar tendency was true for soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC).Among the treatments with different species of green manure,green gram was the best in improving soil TOC,TN and enzymatic activity,while there was no improvement to be observed in soil available N,P,and K after one year' manure trial.