Status of soil enzymatic activities in 100 mango orchards of Maal region of Lukcnow, Uttar Pradesh

A sum of 100 soil samples were collected from 100 mango orchards of Thari, Aunt, Chandwara, Saidapur, Masirha Hamir, Ramnagar, Badihar and Maal villages in Maal region of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India to evaluate the status of soil biological health condition under subtropical climatic condition. As weather influences on microbial activity, pan evaporation and reference ETo during this recent study was recorded between 2.0 to 11.1 mm day−1 and 0.9 to 4.41 mm day− 1, respectively. Soil biological health in terms of enzymatic activity like dehydrogenase (DHA) and fluorescein diacetate activity (FDA) were employed and recorded that the status of these orchards in terms of microbial activity was low. Recent data on DHA and FDA activities were varied between 0.38 to 1.84 μg TPF g−1 h−1 and 83.53 to 275.51 μg fluorescin g−1 h−1 across 100 mango orchards. However, the corresponding enzymatic activities in mango orchards of each village were noted as 0.63 to 0.80 μg TPF g−1 h−1 and 130.92 to 162.04 μg fluorescin g−1 h−1. Soil organic carbon content was estimated as low (0.27 to 0.56%). Majority (78%) of these orchards ranked in medium range (0.51 to 1.0), followed by low (18%) and high (18%) ranges of 0 to 0.5 and >1.0 DHA (μg TPF g−1 h−1) activity. In case of FDA, 63, 35 and 2% falls in the category of low, medium and high ranges. Interestingly, 97% of these orchards had low SOC content and might be responsible for lower microbial reactions. To improve the biological status of the mango orchards, adoption of organic management is advocated to growers.