ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF NPK FERTILISATION AND ELEMENTAL SULPHUR ON SOIL ENZYME ACTIVITY

Soil samples for analyses were collected in a pot experiment set up in a glasshouse located at the Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities. The experimental design was a one-way completely random design with three replicates. Different elemental sulphur fertilisation at the background of NPK fertilisation was the experimental factor. Test plants were cultivated, that is orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and red clover (Triforium pretence L.). The experimental material consisted of soil samples collected after each cut of both the test plants had been harvested. There was found a significant effect of NPK fertilisation on soil enzymatic activity which was different after individual harvests of the test plants. An application of elemental sulphur resulted in a significant increase in: acid phosphatase in soil collected after the third and fourth cut of orchard test plants, alkaline phosphatase in soil after the first, third and fourth cut of red clover, and urease in soil after the first cut of orchard grass and after the third and fourth cut of red clover.