**1. Introduction**

Interactions between soil, plants, and soil microbiome are complex in character and require extended research. Determination of changes in soil stability and identification of associations between microbiological diversity of soil and plants occurring in agricultural ecosystems are difficult because they are affected by plant root secretions [1–4], climatic changes [5–7], and various pollutants [2,7]. As the key component of life on Earth, soil is capable of meeting most of plant demands. Its traits, including abundance of nutrients, productivity, and fertility, are a measure of the strength of plant growth and crop yield [8–11]. Plant productivity largely depends on soil culture [9], count of soil bacteria and fungi colonizing the rhizosphere [12,13], count of epiphytic microorganisms occurring on the surface of plants and endophytic ones colonizing their tissues [14], presence of pathogens [15,16], humus content [17,18], soil pH [19], water-air balance [20–22], soil fraction size [23,24] as well as the microbiological and biochemical activity of soil [10,25–27].

For agricultural sustainability, 176 cultivars have been shortlisted by the Research Center for Cultivar Testing (Słupia Wielka, Poland, 52.227◦ N 17.218◦ E) of which 19 are grasses species of monocotyledonous flowering plants from the *Poaceae* (*Gramineae*) family, commonly known as grasses, have been used in contemporary agriculture: x*Festulolium* Asch. & Graebn., *Festuca rubra* L., *Festuca pratensis* Huds., *Festuca filiformis* Pourr., *Festuca ovina* L., *Festuca trachyphylla* (Hack.) Krajina, *Festuca arundinacea* Schreber, *Dactylis glomerata* L., *Agrostis gigantea* Roth, *Agrostis capillaris* L., *Agrostis stolonifera* L., *Arrhenatherum elatius* (L.) P. Beauv.ex J. Presl & C. Presl, *Bromus catharticus* Vahl, *Phleum pratense* L., *Poa pratensis* L., *Poa trivialis* L., *Lolium x hybridum* Hausskn, *Lolium perenne* L., and *Lolium multiflorum* Lam. Pursuant to EU regulations, all cultivars submitted to the national register are evaluated for distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS), whereas crops are additionally evaluated for their value for cultivation and use [28]. Grasses from the *Poaceae* family, i.e., from the family of monocotyledoneous flowering plants, represent one of the most important and the most abundant group of plants on the entire Earth. This family includes crops and monocotyledoneous fodder plants. These plants constitute the source of feed to both, wild and domesticated animals. They possess therapeutic and health-promoting properties, and are able to adapt to various climatic zones and various habitats. The form assemblages of savannas, steppes, prairies and pampas, as well as lowland, mountain, and arctic meadows. They have been accompanying man for years. They have been and are used most often in animal feeding due to their high nutritive value, resulting from the chemical composition of plants. Grasses are rich in dietary fiber digestible protein, minerals, and vitamins [29]. According to Peeters [30], grasses have a higher nutritive value for animals than fodder beet. They represent complete feeds rich in organic and mineral compounds. Their leaves and stems may be easily ingested by animals and effectively digested by microorganisms colonizing their rumens. In addition, they are valuable energetic feed.

For sustainability, modern agricultural practices need to include every effort not to deplete the soil's organic matter, because the use of chemicals together with intensive cultivation can lead to soil sterilization and microbiological imbalance [11,31,32]. The development of soil edaphon is at risk of the impairment of decomposition and humification processes due to organic matter accumulating in the soil [33].

Soil microorganisms and enzymes take part in the mineralization of organic substances [34–39], in retention of heavy metals [40–42], and in degradation of plant protection agents [43–45] and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [34,36,46]. They are the driving force of the geochemical cycle of elements, and participate in transformations of simple and complex organic compounds [47]. Diversity of microorganisms influences the functioning of ecosystems, biological homeostasis as well as chemical and physical properties of soil, and by this means determines its productivity [35,48,49].

Microorganisms that colonize soil and other environments synthesize intra- and extracellular enzymes indispensable for depolymerization and hydrolysis of organic macromolecules which serve as sources of carbon and energy [50]. Determination of enzymatic activity of soil is essential to the understanding of the functional dynamics of a soil ecosystem. According to Moeskops et al. [51], Zhan et al. [52], and Knight and Dick [53], it is also a good indicator of the biological status of soil because the activity of enzymes from the class of oxidoreductases (dehydrogenases or catalase) is strictly responsible for respiration of microorganisms in the soil. A reliable indicator of changes undergoing in the soil is also the activity of urease. Although this is an extracellular enzyme related to a lesser extent with the condition of microorganisms, it is highly sensitive to various xenobiotics [52]. In turn, β-glucosidade is responsible for cellulose transformation to glucose [53], while phosphatases—for transformations of phosphorus compounds [54], and, inter alia, arylsulfatase—for the metabolism of organic sulfur [55]. It can therefore be concluded that the geochemical transformations proceeding in the soil are strongly associated with its biological activity.

Due to the small amount of research into the effects of grasses on soil biodiversity, research was undertaken to compare (1) the soil bacteriobiome of six grasses species (three fodder and three lawn grasses); (2) the effect of grasses on colony development and ecophysiological diversity index of soil bacteria; (3) the grass yield of fodder and lawn grasses; and (4) the enzymatic activities of soil with grasses and without grass.
