Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


MSThesis CS_.pdf (926.56 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Multi-Substrate Enzyme Assay as a Soil Health Indicator

Solomon, Charlotte
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713473202781707

Abstract Details

2024, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
Soil health (SH) indicators are needed to guide sustainable agricultural management, optimize crop productivity, and to quantify public investment in soil conservation programs. Several enzyme assays have been shown to be sensitive for detecting land management and degraded soils, and as such hold potential as SH indicators. There is an advantage to running two or three assays on each sample, which can reflect different microbial or biochemical soil properties. This approach would reduce analytical expenses over doing the assays independently. Commercial labs would be interested in this assay to reduce time and labor when testing for SH. Furthermore, there is limited research on the ability of a multi-substrate assay for detecting soil management over single enzyme assays. However, a multi-substrate assay must be optimized and vetted before it can be used as a SH indicator. Therefore, the global objective of this thesis was to optimize and test an integrative multi-substrate assay using two key enzymes that have proven to be sensitive SH indicators. Chapter 1 is a literature review of SH and the potential of enzyme assays as SH indicators. To be reproducible and universal, enzyme assays are run under optimal conditions. This creates a challenge for multi-substrate assays because each enzyme activity assay is run at a different optimal buffer pH. Chapter 2 is a method-development investigation. The first objective was to determine the optimal pH for a multi-substrate assay that combined β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21 β-d-glucoside glucohydrolase) and arylsulfatase (EC 3.1.6.1 arylsulfate sulfohydrolase), both of which have been shown to be sensitive for detecting soil management. The second objective was to determine the ability of this multi-substrate assay to detect soil management and have a comparable interpretation to individual enzyme assays relative to SH. The experiment had a completely randomized block design with two treatments: 1) the multi-substrate assay was run at buffer pHs ranging from 5.8 to 6.5; and 2) individual assays of each enzyme were run at their optimal pH. Soils used in this study had diverse properties and management history were from: long-term OSU Triplett VanDoren tillage experiments at Hoytville and Wooster; remediated (prairie vegetation) and unmanaged sites of The Wilds near Zanesville, Ohio, a former coal mine; and a Christmas tree farm and adjacent unmanaged forest on a highly weathered soil (Ultisol). These soils were chosen as they have a wide range of pH values and various environmental conditions that affect the enzyme activities in the soil. Chapter 3 compares the multi-substrate assay and individual enzyme assays in detecting soil management and interpreting SH of soils from farmers’ fields. These field sites had been under various management practices that included no till, conventional tillage, diverse crop rotations, manure amendments, and certified organic crop production across Ohio. A vetted multi-substrate assay would be useful for high-throughput SH testing labs to increase efficient use of resources and labor. Furthermore, development of a vetted SH indicator that reflects soil biology, as there are currently there are few microbial SH that have proven to be consistent SH indicators.
Richard Dick (Advisor)
Mercer Kristen (Committee Member)
Basta Nicholas (Committee Member)
85 p.
Soil Sciences

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Solomon, C. (2024). Multi-Substrate Enzyme Assay as a Soil Health Indicator [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713473202781707

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Solomon, Charlotte. Multi-Substrate Enzyme Assay as a Soil Health Indicator. 2024. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713473202781707.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Solomon, Charlotte. "Multi-Substrate Enzyme Assay as a Soil Health Indicator." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713473202781707

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1713473202781707
24
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.