The Influence of Aluminum and Cadmium Pollution on Soil Enzyme Activities in a Latosol
A pot experiment was carried out to evaluate the response of soil enzyme activities to different level of aluminum(Al) with cadmium(Cd) in latosol. The results indicated that urease activity fluctuated strongly under Al stress. Al application inhibited phosphatase, catalase dehydrogenase, invertase activities; Urease activity increased when the Cd concentration was less than 20 mg/kg, phosphatase activity decreased when exposed to low concentration of Cd stress, whereas phosphatase activity was not influenced by high concentration of Cd, the influence of Cd on the catalase was less than that of Al. Through correlation analysis, phosphatase and catalase activities were negatively and significantly correlated with Al, Al/Cd combination had the interaction on phosphatase, catalase, invertase and dehydrogenase. Because the phosphatase and catalase showed strong sensitivity to Al with increasingly concentrations, phosphatase and catalase could be used as the indicator of Al pollution. Compared with the other soil enzymes, urease was sensitive to different Cd concentrations, which could be used as the indicator of Cd contamination.