Abstract:
Study on the response of soil enzyme activity and temperature sensitivity to elevated CO
2 concentration and warming at important growth stages of crops is of great significance to evaluate the impact of climate change on crop production and the functional stability of soil ecosystem. In view of this, the soil of millet (
Setaria italica) at grain filling stage was selected as the research object for pot experiments, and three climate scenarios were designed using an artificial climate chamber as follows: elevated CO
2 concentration (700 μmol∙mol
−1 CO
2 concentration and 22 ℃ ambient temperature, EC), elevated CO
2 concentration and warming (700 μmol·mol
−1 CO
2 concentration and 26 ℃ ambient temperature, EC+T), and control (400 μmol·mol
−1 CO
2 concentration and 22 ℃ ambient temperature, CK). Two water conditions were set for each climate scenario as follows: adequate water supply (70% field capacity) and mild drought stress (50% field capacity). The responses of the activities and temperature sensitivity of β-glucosidase (βG), β-N-acetyl glucosidase (NAG), cellulase (CBH), and β-xylosidase (βX) to elevated CO
2 concentration and warming were analyzed. The results showed that the activities of βG, NAG, CBH, and βX in the control group (CK) first increased and then decreased with an increase in incubation temperature under the condition of sufficient water supply, and the temperature at which enzyme activities were the highest was 25 ℃. At the optimum temperature (25 ℃), elevated CO
2 concentration significantly decreased soil βG activity but had little inhibitory effect on the activities of soil NAG, CBH, and βX. The effect of the interaction between elevated CO
2 concentration and warming was related to water conditions; specifically, the enzyme activities were inhibited under mild drought condition but no significant difference was observed under adequate water supply. In addition, elevated CO
2 concentrations and warming significantly affected the temperature sensitivity (
Q10) of soil enzyme activity at millet grain filling stage. The elevated CO
2 concentration significantly increased
Q10, whereas warming decreased
Q10. Under sufficient water supply, warming counteracted the effect of elevated CO
2 concentration on
Q10, and the interaction between elevated CO
2 concentration and warming had no significant effect on
Q10. However, elevated CO
2 concentration and warming had significant effects on
Q10 under mild drought condition as follows: the interaction of CO
2 concentration, temperature, and water content on
Q10 was significant. In addition, the interaction between elevated CO
2 concentration and mild drought had a significant effect on
Q10, but there was no significant difference in the effect of elevated CO
2 concentration and the interaction of the three factors. Moreover, redundancy analysis showed that
Q10 was affected by environmental variables such as microbial biomass and soil nutrients. This study demonstrated that the effects of elevated CO
2 concentration, warming, drought, and their interactions on soil enzyme activities and temperature sensitivity were complex and particularly, the elevated CO
2 concentration inhibited the temperature sensitivity of soil enzymes and weakened the metabolic functions and stability of enzymes related to soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, which further affected the functional stability of the soil ecosystem.