Microbial quantities and enzyme activity in soil irrigated with sewage for different lengths of time

Sewage is widely used on agricultural soils in peri-urban areas of developing countries to meet shortages of water resource. Although sewage is a good source of plant nutrients, it also increases the heavy metals loads to soils. Microbial responses to these contaminants may serve as early warning indicators of adverse effects of sewage irrigation on soil quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of time of sewage irrigation on soil microbial indicators. Soil samples were collected from seven soil sites (S1–S7) irrigated with 0 years, 16 years, 23 years, 25 years, 27 years, 32 years and 52 years, respectively in Shijiazhuang of China and analyzed. For each soil sample, we determined the quantities of bacteria, fungi and actinomycete, and enzyme activities of urease, sucrase, phosphatase, dehydrogenase and catalase. Our results showed that the soils of S2–S7 irrigated with sewage effluents for different times (ranged between 16 and 52 years) exhibited higher densities of bacteria, actinomycete, urease, sucrase and phosphatase but lower densities of fungi when compared with S1 irrigated with sewage effluents for 0 years. The soil S7 irrigated with sewage effluents for longest times (52 years) contained lowest activities of catalase when compared with the soils of S1–S6. The densities of bacteria (R = 0.877, p < 0.01), actinomycete (R = 0.875, p < 0.01), sucrase (R = 0.858, p < 0.01) and phosphatase (R = 0.804, p < 0.05) were significantly correlated in a positive manner with time of sewage irrigation. Soil fungi quantities and urease, dehydrogenase and catalase activities did not change significantly with irrigation time. This study confirms that sewage irrigation had negative effects on microbial properties including fungi, catalase and dehydrogenase in the long term, so there is a need for continuous monitoring for sustainable soil health.