A high-throughput microplate assay for simultaneous colorimetric quantification of multiple enzyme activities in soil

A high-throughput assay was developed for the simultaneous quantification of various soil enzyme activities using p-nitrophenyl substrates. The average coefficients of variance (n = 20) for assaying activities of N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase, α-d-glucosidase, β-d-glucosidase, α-d-galactosidase, and β-d-galactosidase were 10, 15, 12, 18, and 16%, respectively. This assay makes it possible for system-level evaluations that demand simultaneous examination of multiple enzyme activities in a large number of soils within hours of sampling.