The Effects of Biochar and Its Combination with Compost on Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Growth, Soil Properties, and Soil Microbial Activity and Abundance

Table 4

Soil enzymatic activities. Soil enzymatic activities were determined by the API-ZYM system (bio-Mérieux Italia). Results are expressed as nanomoles/g of dry weight of substrate; the data have been corrected by the dilution factor. PS = unfertilized soil; PSB = unfertilized soil plus biochar; PSC = unfertilized soil plus compost; and PSCB = unfertilized soil plus compost and biochar.

Enzyme	PS	PSB	PSC	PSCB
Alkaline phosphatase	250 ± 25	500 ± 25	500 ± 50	1000 ± 50
Acid phosphatase	250 ± 25	500 ± 50	500 ± 25	1000 ± 100
Chymotrypsin	10 ± 5	250 ± 25	500 ± 25	250 ± 25
Trypsin	10 ± 5	250 ± 50	500 ± 50	100 ± 25
Phosphohydrolase	10 ± 5	250 ± 25	500 ± 50	10 ± 5
Lipase-esterase	10 ± 5	500 ± 50	10 ± 5	500 ± 25
Esterase	10 ± 5	500 ± 25	10 ± 5	10 ± 5
Lipase	10 ± 5	10 ± 5	250 ± 25	10 ± 5