Table 1.
Physico-chemical properties, available nutrient content, and biological properties of termite mound soil based potting media.
| Treatment combinations | Physico-chemical properties and available nutrient content | Biological properties | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pH | EC (ds/m) | Water holding capacity (%) | Infiltration rate (mm/h) | Organic carbon (%) | Available nitrogen (kg ha−1) | Available phosphorus (kg ha−1) | Available potassium (kg ha−1) | SMBC (μg/g) | Dehydrogenase (μg TTF g−1 soil day−1) | PME (μg p-nitrophenol/g soil/h) | FDA (μg fluorescein/g soil/h) | Urease (μg NH4-N g−1 soil h−1) | |
| T1 | 6.50 ± 0.07 | 1.45 ± 0.11 | 26.50 ± 0.46 | 8.60 ± 0.04 | 1.09 ± 0.00 | 224.00 ± 5.20 | 24.35 ± 1.03 | 506.04 ± 0.09 | 186.79 ± 0.46 | 4.88 ± 0.12 | 34.16 ± 4.28 | 5.06 ± 0.06 | 2.02 ± 0.03 |
| T2 | 6.70 ± 0.49 | 1.58 ± 0.08 | 29.00 ± 0.30 | 8.44 ± 0.10 | 1.08 ± 0.02 | 243.00 ± 1.02 | 25.57 ± 0.18 | 561.29 ± 1.02 | 116.27 ± 1.09 | 5.08 ± 0.18 | 42.22 ± 1.69 | 5.25 ± 0.23 | 2.11 ± 0.10 |
| T3 | 7.15 ± 0.05 | 1.80 ± 0.04 | 27.75 ± 1.11 | 8.18 ± 0.07 | 1.24 ± 0.08 | 227.00 ± 0.60 | 25.00 ± 0.36 | 576.38 ± 0.90 | 128.97 ± 0.07 | 9.15 ± 0.77 | 40.68 ± 1.61 | 6.27 ± 0.06 | 2.20 ± 0.02 |
| T4 | 6.95 ± 0.03 | 1.77 ± 0.00 | 31.18 ± 0.98 | 7.79 ± 0.05 | 1.29 ± 0.20 | 275.17 ± 5.41 | 34.31 ± 0.06 | 621.54 ± 0.37 | 262.25 ± 1.17 | 12.64 ± 1.44 | 50.54 ± 1.55 | 11.01 ± 0.70 | 2.24 ± 0.03 |
| T5 | 5.14 ± 0.03 | 1.45 ± 0.03 | 27.00 ± 0.27 | 6.26 ± 0.05 | 0.85 ± 0.04 | 162.97 ± 0.09 | 22.07 ± 0.99 | 308.25 ± 0.91 | 109.36 ± 0.95 | 2.64 ± 0.46 | 29.17 ± 4.39 | 3.66 ± 0.23 | 0.56 ± 0.02 |
| T6 | 8.03 ± 0.01 | 1.88 ± 0.02 | 32.46 ± 0.98 | 5.34 ± 0.04 | 1.27 ± 0.03 | 243.90 ± 0.25 | 32.20 ± 1.02 | 612.33 ± 0.95 | 212.49 ± 0.95 | 3.83 ± 0.34 | 44.03 ± 1.70 | 6.3 ± 0.13 | 2.25 ± 0.08 |
| T7 | 7.15 ± 0.23 | 1.74 ± 0.02 | 28.59 ± 0.95 | 8.58 ± 0.11 | 2.13 ± 0.02 | 526.02 ± 5.34 | 56.60 ± 1.11 | 708.19 ± 1.91 | 235.01 ± 0.21 | 18.21 ± 1.47 | 46.68 ± 2.23 | 8.18 ± 0.13 | 3.39 ± 0.05 |
| Control | 6.21 ± 0.17 | 1.47 ± 0.01 | 26.00 ± 0.66 | 9.39 ± 0.06 | 1.06 ± 0.06 | 213.58 ± 0.96 | 26.30 ± 0.80 | 308.25 ± 0.82 | 181.10 ± 1.72 | 9.45 ± 0.50 | 38.87 ± 3.37 | 7.05 ± 0.06 | 3.19 ± 0.01 |
| S.Ed (±) | 0.17 | 0.04 | 0.64 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 2.69 | 0.65 | 0.82 | 0.79 | 0.67 | 2.32 | 0.23 | 0.04 |
| CD (p = 0.05) | 0.29 | 0.07 | 1.11 | 0.13 | 0.05 | 4.69 | 1.13 | 4.42 | 1.38 | 1.17 | 4.05 | 0.40 | 0.07 |
Mean values ± standard deviation.SMBC, soil microbial biomass carbon; PME, phosphomonoesterase; FDA, fluorescein diacetate.