In order to study the effects of rotational tillage on soil enzyme activities in winter wheat field, experiment was conducted in Luoyang city, Henan province from 2009 to 2012. Eight treatments were arranged in a split plot design. The whole plot treatment factors were S (wheat and maize straw retention) and NS (no straw retention).The subplot treatment factors were the tillage modes, including 3C (shallow ploughing for three years) , DP2C (deep ploughing for the fist year and shallow ploughing for following two years), 2DPC (deep ploughing for two years and shallow ploughing for the third year) and 3DP (deep ploughing for constant three years). The activities of invertase, urease, alkaline phosphatase and catalase within 0~40 cm soil layer were investigated for different treatments during winter wheat growing season. The results showed that, compared with NS, the activities of invertase, urease, alkaline phosphatase and catalase were significantly increased by 24.92%, 9.2%, 6.66% and 11.04% on average in the 0~40 cm layer of S treatment, respectively. In addition, after long time shallow tillage, the activities of these soil enzymes under deep ploughing were higher than those under 3C in 0~40 cm layer, being 5.33%, 6.26%, 2.02% and 3.43% on average,respectively. Under the same condition of straw retention treatments, the activities of all soil enzymes in 0~40 cm layer of 2DPC and 3DP were higher than that of 3C. The activities of those enzymes decreased with settlement depth, but the activities of those soil enzymes of 2DPC and 3DP were significantly higher than the other treatments. It indicated that the treatments of 2DPC and 3DP under straw retention were contributed to improve the activities of soil enzymes and their even distribution in field. |