Understanding the interactions of plant soil environment and rhizosphere microbial changes are necessary to develop
new strategies for the sustainable agriculture. A field experiment with combination of three water levels and three
nitrogen rates was conducted to investigate the effect of water and nitrogen management on the changes of soil
microbial properties in non-rhizosphere and rhizosphere soils of spinach. Non-Rhizosphere and rhizosphere microbial
diversities were affected by water and nitrogen applications. Evenness index in the no-nitrogen treatment was more
than that of 85 and 170 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatments in the non-rhizosphere or rhizosphere soil. Microbial biomass
carbon in non-rhizosphere soil or rhizosphere soil decreased with the increase of nitrogen application, but showed
the highest value in 16.5% of soil water content, followed by 12.5% and 20.5% of soil water content. Soil microbial
biomass phosphorus content of 85 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatment in the non-rhizosphere soil or rhizosphere soil was
significantly different for 0 and 170 kg ha–1 nitrogen treatments. Nitrification rate increased with the increase of soil
water content in 0 and 170 kg ha–1 treatments. Our results demonstrated that water and nitrogen could impact the
soil fertility and microbial activity of spinach.