Influence of cadmium on the metabolic quotient, L-:D-glutamic acid respiration ratio and enzyme activity:microbial biomass ratio under laboratory conditions

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of very high cadmium concentrations (50 and 500 mug Cd g(-1) soil) on some biochemical and microbiological measurements under laboratory conditions involving daily soil samplings. The data for both DTPA and water-soluble Cd showed two distinctive patterns during soil incubation; from 0 to 4 days, values were about 50-500 and 1-100 mug g(-1) dry weight soil, whereas they decreased markedly after 7 days. Both daily respiration and the ATP content but not the microbial biomass C determined by the fumigation-extraction method were lowered by high DTPA- and water-soluble Cd concentrations. Dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as well as both enzyme activity:microbial biomass ratios were decreased by the high DTPA- and water-soluble Cd concentrations. In the first 2 days of incubation, the metabolic quotient (qCO(2)) was also decreased by the highest values of available Cd. The early (after 6 h) mineralization of L- but not D-glutamic acid to CO2 was inhibited during the 0-4 day incubation period by the highest Cd concentration. Possibly the L-enantiomer was used by a larger fraction of soil microorganisms than the D-enantiomer or, if they were used by the same fraction of soil microorganisms, the D-enantiomer was mineralized at a lower rate. The L-:D-glutamic acid respiration ratio was decreased by the high available Cd content because under polluted conditions soil microorganisms probably discriminated less between the two stereoisomers of glutamic acid.