Microbial and soil moisture impacts of compost amendments and rainfall pulses in a degraded dryland soil, Arizona, 2021-2023

Compost, an organic soil amendment, has been proposed to increase soil carbon storage and water-holding capacity in drylands, and this management strategy may be particularly impactful in degraded drylands with low soil organic content. Compost additions and rainfall variability may interact to affect soil moisture, which is an important catalyst for soil microbial activity. This dataset is from a study that investigated how variable compost application amounts and simulated rainfall pulses affect soil moisture, microbial activity, and carbon content in a laboratory incubation study. Soils were amended with different amounts of compost (0, 0.35, and 0.70 g cm -2) and water pulses (5, 10, and 15 mm) in a full-factorial design. Each treatment received the same cumulative amount of water throughout the incubation, but pulses occurred at different frequencies (every 5, 10, and 15 days). Soil moisture content and microbial respiration were measured daily. Soil carbon content was measured at the end of the experiment.

堆肥（compost）作为一种有机土壤改良剂，已有研究提出其可提升旱地的土壤碳储量与持水能力，且该管理策略在土壤有机质含量较低的退化旱地中效果尤为显著。堆肥施加量与降雨变异性可能通过交互作用影响土壤湿度，而土壤湿度是驱动土壤微生物活动的关键调控因子。本数据集源自一项室内培养试验研究，旨在探究不同堆肥施加量与模拟降雨脉冲对土壤湿度、微生物活性及碳含量的影响。试验采用全因子设计，设置了3种堆肥施加梯度（0、0.35、0.70 g·cm⁻²）与3种降雨脉冲梯度（5、10、15 mm），对土壤进行改良处理。所有处理在整个培养周期内的累计灌水量保持一致，但降雨脉冲的发生频率各不相同，分别为每5天、10天、15天一次。研究人员每日测定土壤湿度与微生物呼吸速率，并在试验结束时测定土壤碳含量。