Hindawi Publishing Corporation Applied and Environmental Soil Science Volume 2012, Article ID 130941, 11 pages doi:10.1155/2012/130941 Research Article Interactions of Soil Order and Land Use Management on Soil Properties in the Kukart Watershed, Kyrgyzstan Zulfiia Sakbaeva, 1 Veronica Acosta-Mart´ ınez, 2 Jennifer Moore-Kucera, 3 Wayne Hudnall, 3 and Karabaev Nuridin 4 1 Department of Ecology and Natural Resources, Jalal-Abad State University, 57 Lenin Street, 715600 Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan 2 Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 3810 4th Street, Lubbock, TX 79415, USA 3 Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, 15th and Detroit, Room 201, Mail Stop 2122, Lubbock, TX 79409-2122, USA 4 Department of Soil Science, Agrochemistry and Farming, Kyrgyz National Agrarian University, 68 Mederov Street, 720005 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Correspondence should be addressed to Jennifer Moore-Kucera, jennifer.moore-kucera@ttu.edu Received 24 May 2012; Revised 17 July 2012; Accepted 30 July 2012 Academic Editor: D. L. Jones Copyright © 2012 Zulfiia Sakbaeva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Surveys of soil properties related to soil functioning for many regions of Kyrgyzstan are limited. This study established ranges of chemical (soil organic matter (SOM), pH and total N (TN)), physical (soil texture), and biochemical (six enzyme activities of C, N, P, and S cycling) characteristics for nine profiles from the Kukart watershed of Jalal-Abad region in Kyrgyzstan. These profiles represent different soil orders (Inceptisols, Alfisols, and Mollisols) and land uses (cultivated, nut-fruit forests, and pasture). The Sierozem (Inceptisols) soils had the highest pH and contained the lowest SOM and TN contents compared to the Brown, Black-brown, and Meadow-steppe soils (Alfisols and Mollisols). Enzymatic activities within surface horizons (0–18 cm) typically decreased in the following order: forest > pasture > cultivated. Enzyme activity trends due to land use were present regardless of elevation, climate, and soil types although subtle differences among soil types within land use were observed. The significant reductions in measured soil enzyme activities involved in C, N, P, and S nutrient transformations under cultivation compared to pasture and forest ecosystems and lower values under Inceptisols can serve as soil quality indicators for land use decisions in the watershed. 1. Introduction Expected changes in global climate, land uses, population distribution, and water availability create challenges to meet societal needs for ecosystem services that agricultural, forestry, and pasture lands provide. In order to make sound decisions regarding land use, knowledge of specific properties related to soil functioning under different land use scenarios are necessary. Dynamic properties such as enzyme activities and soil organic matter (SOM) are sensitive to land management practices and can provide valuable information about important soil processes such as nutrient cycling, decomposition and formation of SOM, and overall produc- tivity potential. Enzymatic potential in soils is influenced by inherent soil properties such as soil texture, type of clay, and drainage class that were established as soil formed as well as dynamic properties such as SOM, pH, and nutrient holding capacity. Among the various enzymes present in soil, assessment of the activities of hydrolases involved in C, N, P, and S cycling can provide information about soil fertility [1, 2] as well as the metabolic potential of soil [3, 4]. Previous studies with soils from various regions have shown that enzyme activities are sensitive to soil changes due to tillage [5, 6], cropping systems [7–9], and land use [10–12].