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Linking soil enzymes and microbial community dynamics with organic carbon fluctuations for sustaining the soil health
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  • Published: 19 March 2026

Linking soil enzymes and microbial community dynamics with organic carbon fluctuations for sustaining the soil health

  • Manisha Negi1,2,
  • Pardeep Kumar2,
  • Anjali Chauhan2,
  • Saurabh Sharma2,
  • Happy Dev Sharma2 &
  • …
  • Kapil Sharma2,3 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Ecology
  • Environmental sciences
  • Microbiology

Abstract

In the mountainous regions, where irrigation water is scarce and temperatures are less than ideal, we aimed to explore the combined effects of mulching and organic manure on organic carbon fluctuations, microbial populations and enzymatic activities in soil under ginger. A two-year field study (2021 and 2022) was conducted at Dr. YS Parmar University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, using a split plot design. Main plot treatments included grass (straw) mulch, black plastic mulch (25 and 100 µ thickness). Sub plot treatments consisted of farmyard manure (FYM), vermicompost (VC) and sheep-goat manure (SGM), alone or in combination. Grass mulch showed the highest soil organic carbon content (19.02 g kg− 1), viable bacteria (132.65 × 106 ± 1.66 cfu g− 1 soil), fungi (35.73 × 103 ± 1.86 cfu g− 1 soil), actinomycetes count (45.50 × 103 ± 0.78 cfu g− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (646.17 ± 8.77 µg of p-NPP g− 1 soil hr− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.16 ± 0.15 mg TPF g− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 17.84 ± 0.20 mg NH3-N g− 1 soil per hr urease) among mulches. Among the sub plot treatments, FYM combined with 50% RDF (recommended dose of fertilizers) through FYM and SGM generated the best results in terms of soil organic carbon (17.63 g kg− 1) microbial counts (135.40 × 106 ± 2.58 cfu g− 1 soil viable bacteria, 39.93 × 103 ± 1.92 cfu g− 1 soil viable fungi and 44.48 × 103 ± 0.99 cfu g− 1 soil) and enzymatic activities (524.06 ± 11.33 µg of p-NPP g− 1 soil hr− 1 acid phosphatase, 6.55 ± 0.10 mg TPF g− 1 soil per 24 h dehydrogenase and 18.04 ± 0.17 mg NH3-N g− 1 soil per hr urease). Positive correlations were observed between soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial populations and enzymatic activities. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed two key components explaining 94.5% of the total variance in soil health parameters under mulching and manuring, with PC1 (79.4%) dominated by organic carbon, microbial counts and enzymatic activities and PC2 (15.1%) mainly associated with enzymatic functions. The synergistic effects of grass mulch and FYM with SGM provide a blueprint for resilient soil ecosystems.

Data availability

All data on the measured that support the findings of this study are included within this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR – Directorate of Mushroom Research, Chambaghat, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, 173213, India

    Manisha Negi

  2. Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, 173230, India

    Manisha Negi, Pardeep Kumar, Anjali Chauhan, Saurabh Sharma, Happy Dev Sharma & Kapil Sharma

  3. ITM University Gwalior, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, 474001, India

    Kapil Sharma

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  3. Anjali Chauhan
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Contributions

Manisha Negi : Experimentation, writing original draft, data analyses, conception and design; Pardeep Kumar : Experimentation and supervision; Anjali Chauhan : Supervision and correction of draft; Saurabh Sharma : Data analyses, graphs and feedback; Happy Dev Sharma: Supervision, review and feedback; Kapil Sharma: Correction of draft, review and feedback.

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Correspondence to Saurabh Sharma.

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Negi, M., Kumar, P., Chauhan, A. et al. Linking soil enzymes and microbial community dynamics with organic carbon fluctuations for sustaining the soil health. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43619-0

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  • Received: 30 October 2025

  • Accepted: 05 March 2026

  • Published: 19 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43619-0

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Keywords

  • Viable microbial count
  • Soil organic carbon
  • Enzyme activities
  • Mulching
  • Organic manures
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