Virus-adsorbing behavior of soil,to a large extent,determines the risk of viruses polluting drinking water.Batch sorption experiments were carried out with bacteriophages MS2 and φX174 to compare 6 different soils with contrast properties in virus-adsorbing behavior,and to expound effect of the presence of indigenous microorganisms on the behavior.In general,soils were more adsorptive to φX174 than to MS2.Among the studied 6 soils,clayed red soil showed the greatest adsorption capacity,while sandy Chao soil the lowest,Effect of the presence of indigenous microorganisms on soil virus-adsorbing behavior varied with soil and bacteriophage.Sterilization increased soil adsorption of MS2 in all the soil samples,except in clayed red soil,whereas it did not affected their adsorption of φX174 except in clayed red soil,where adsorption of φX174 decreased significantly,which suggests that clayed red soil or materials with similar properties may be used as an ideal virus sorbent to purify virus-contaminated water.In areas dominated with sandy Chao soil,the possibility of "natural disinfection" through soil adsorption is rather limited.In soils may exit some microorganisms and some special groups of microorganisms that may control the process of virus adsorption by soils.It is,therefore,essential to further study mechanisms involved in this process.