Abstract:Soil nematode and microbes are essential and very sensitive to any upsets in terrestrial ecosystems. In order to reveal the tendency of soil quality of wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) orchard, make the origin of L. barbarum as the objective region, different stand ages of soil were selected in wolfberry orchard. The objective of the study was achieved by nematode and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) biomarker analysis of soil samples from L. barbarum orchards in the objective region. The change rule of soil nematode and microbial community diversity with the change of season, soil layer and stand age was analyzed. The results showed that the abundance of nematode was increased and then decreased in 0~20cm of soil, with the highest nematode at the stand age of 6. The proportion of bacterivores was the highest (57.23% and 61.19% in summer and autumn, respectively), and plant parasites nematode was next, fungivorous nematode and predatorsomnivore had the lowest abundance. Plant parasites nematode was relatively higher at 20~40cm than that at 0~20cm. The average concentrations of total and bacterial PLFAs in the surface soil were initially decreased and then increased, and the highest microbial PLFA concentrations were obtained in 9th year. The tendency change of total and bacterial PLFAs were similar to nematode abundance at 20~40cm in summer. With longer stand age, Shannon diversity index (H′) and richness index (SR) of nematode were increased and then decreased, however, H′ and SR of microbial were decreased, and dominant index was increased. The change tendency of abundance, H′ and SR of soil nematode were similar to soil microbial. There was significant negative correlation between soil pH value, EC, microbial and bacteria PLFA. The organic matter, total nitrogen and available P were significantly positively correlated to the abundance of nematodes and concentration of microbial PLFA, respectively. Total abundance of nematode, bacterivores and bacteria, fungi and actinomyces PLFA were significantly positively correlated. On the whole, the season, layer and stand age had different effects on the nematode and microbial community, and the stand age had the least effect; the season, soil layer and 〖JP3〗stand age had more significant effect on microbe than nematode. Furthermore, the microenvironment of soil was improved and then declined gradually as the stand age increased in the same season as well as the soil layer.