Microbial diversity and organic matter fractions under two arid soils in Algerian Sahara

The Algerian Sahara is characterized by a heterogeneity of edaphic conditions and climatic dissimilarities; however, information on biological indicators of arid soils is weakly documented in this area. The researchers who have studied the biological activities of the soils of the arid regions have underlined their low organic matter content, particularly their very low rates of organic nitrogen; a low humification because seriously inhibited by a significant mineralization. The objective of the current work is to study the microbial biomass densities and organic matter fractions for different types of soil, under two arid soil in Algerian Sahara. The experiment was conducted in an alluvial soil in traditional palm grove of Guerrara, and in a saline soil in experimental field of university of Ouargla. Composite soil samples (10 subsamples each) were collected aseptically at 0-20 cm depth on two diagonal transects drawn over an area of 12 ha. The following germs densities were determined: Bacteria, Fungi and Actinomycetes. The soil organic matter fractions, the textural fractions, chemical attributes (organic C, total N, total limestone and gypsum) were also determined. The microbial groups count on both soils reveals that the bacterianmicroflora present a numerical superiority followed by the actinomycetes and finally fungi. The micro-organisms densities except fungal density, showed a prevalence of the bacterianmicroflora, and actinomycetes in alluvial soil compared to saline soil. Fractionation of soil organic matter show that all fractions are better represented in alluvial soil except non-extractable organic carbon (NEOC) which are better represented in saline soil. This confirms that alluvial soil has a relatively large biological activity than saline soil and that humification process is relatively pronounced by comparing it with the saline soil, which tends to contain little polycondenseshumic compounds.