Soil Dehydrogenase Activity: a Comparison Between the Ttc and Int Method. a Review

Soil enzyme activities are very sensitive to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances and show a quick response to the induced change. Soil dehydrogenase enzyme are one of the main components of soil enzymatic activities participating in and assuring the correct sequence of all the biochemical routes in soil biogeochemical cycles. Dehydrogenase activity is measured by two methods using the TTC and INT substrate. Different biotic and abiotic factors such as incubation time and temperature, pre-incubation, soil aeration and moisture content have significant effect on dehydrogenase activity in soil. Dehydrogenase enzyme is often used as a measure of any disruption caused by pesticides, trace elements or management practices to the soil, as well as a direct measure of soil microbial activity. This review describes the role of intracellular enzyme-dehydrogenase in the soil environment, and the most common laboratory procedure used for measure dehydrogenase activity by two methods using the TCC and INT substrate.