Intensive management practices in large-scale oil palm plantations can slow down nutrient cycling and alter other soil functions. Thus, there is a need to reduce management intensity without sacrificing productivity. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of management practices on gross rates of soil N cycling and soil fertility. In Jambi province, Indonesia, we established a management experiment in a large-scale oil palm plantation to compare conventional practices (i.e. high fertilization rates and herbicide weeding) with reduced management intensity (i.e. reduced fertilization rates and mechanical weeding). Also, we compared the typical management zones characterizing large-scale plantations: palm circle, inter-row and frond-stacked area. After 1.5 years of this experiment, reduced and conventional management showed comparable gross soil N cycling rates; however, there were stark differences among management zones. The frond-stacked area had higher soil N cycling rates and soil fertility (high microbial biomass, extractable C, soil organic C, extractable organic N, total N and low bulk density) than inter-row and palm circle (all p ≤ 0.05). Microbial biomass was the main driver of the soil N cycle, attested by its high correlation with gross N-cycling rates (r = 0.93–0.95, p < 0.01). The correlations of microbial N with extractable C, extractable organic N, soil organic C and total N (r = 0.76–0.89, p < 0.01) suggest that microbial biomass was mainly regulated by the availability of organic matter. Mulching with senesced fronds enhanced soil microbial biomass, which promoted nutrient recycling and thereby can decrease dependency on chemical fertilizers.

在大型油棕人工林中进行集约化管理可减缓养分循环并改变其他土壤功能。因此，需要在不牺牲生产率的情况下降低管理强度。我们研究的目的是调查管理措施对土壤氮循环和土壤肥力总速率的影响。在印度尼西亚的占碑省，我们在大型油棕人工林中建立了管理试验，以比较常规做法（即高施肥率和除草剂除草）与降低的管理强度（即降低施肥率和机械除草）。此外，我们还比较了代表大型种植园的典型经营区：棕榈园，行间和叶状堆积区。经过1.5年的实验，减少并且常规管理显示出可比的土壤总氮循环率；但是，管理区域之间存在明显差异。叶状堆积区的土壤氮循环速率和土壤肥力（微生物生物量高，可萃取碳，土壤有机碳，可萃取有机氮，总氮和堆积密度低）均高于行间和手掌圆（所有p≤0.05） 。微生物生物量是土壤氮循环的主要驱动力，证明了其与总氮循环速率的高度相关性（r = 0.93-0.95，p <0.01）。微生物氮与可提取碳，可提取有机氮，土壤有机碳和总氮的相关性（r = 0.76-0.89，p <0.01）表明，微生物生物量主要受有机物有效性的调节。衰老的叶片覆盖可以增强土壤微生物的生物量，