Cultivation effects on soil texture and fertility in an arid desert region of northwestern China

In arid desert regions of northwestern China, reclamation and subsequent irrigated cultivation have become effective ways to prevent desertification, expand arable croplands, and develop sustainable agricultural production. Improvement in soil texture and fertility is crucial to high soil quality and stable crop yield. However, knowledge on the long-term effects of the conversion of desert lands into arable croplands is very limited. To address this problem, we conducted this study in an arid desert region of northwestern China to understand the changes in soil physical-chemical properties after 0, 2, 5, 10, 17, and 24 years of cultivation. Our results showed that silt and clay contents at the 17-year-old sites increased 17.5 and 152.3 folds, respectively, compared with that at the 0-year-old sites. The soil aggregate size fraction and its stability exhibited an exponential growth trend with increasing cultivation ages, but no significant change was found for the proportion of soil macroaggregates (>5.00 mm) during the 17 years of cultivation. The soil organic carbon (SOC) content at the 24-year-old sites was 6.86 g/kg and increased 8.8 folds compared with that at the 0-year-old sites. The total (or available) nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents showed significant increasing trends and reached higher values after 17 (or 24) years of cultivation. Changes in soil physical-chemical properties successively experienced slow, rapid, and stable development stages, but some key properties (such as soil aggregate stability and SOC) were still too low to meet the sustainable agricultural production. The results of this long-term study indicated that reasonable agricultural management, such as expanding no-tillage land area, returning straw to the fields, applying organic fertilizer, reducing chemical fertilizer application, and carrying out soil testing for formula fertilization, is urgently needed in arid desert regions.     

Effects of sediment load on the abrasion of soil aggregate and hydraulic parameters in experimental overland flow

The breakdown of soil aggregates under rainfall and their abrasion in overland flow are important processes in water erosion due to the production of more fine and transportable particles and, the subsequent significant effect on the erosion intensity. Currently, little is known about the effects of sediment load on the soil aggregate abrasion and the relationship of this abrasion with some related hydraulic parameters. Here, the potential effects of sediment load on soil aggregate abrasion and hydraulic parameters in overland flow were investigated through a series of experiments in a 3.8-m-long hydraulic flume at the slope gradients of 8.7 and 26.8%, unit flow discharges from 2×10~(–3) to 6×10~(–3) m~2 s~(-1), and the sediment concentration from 0 to 110 kg m~(–3). All the aggregates from Ultisols developed Quaternary red clay, Central China. The results indicated that discharge had the most significant(P0.01) effect on the aggregates abrasion with the contributions of 58.76 and 60.34%, followed by sediment feed rate, with contributions of 39.66 and 34.12% at the slope gradients of 8.7 and 26.8%, respectively. The abrasion degree of aggregates was found to increase as a power function of the sediment concentration. Meanwhile, the flow depth, friction factor, and shear stress increased as a power function along with the increase of sediment concentration at different slope gradients and discharges. Reynolds number was obviously affected by sediment concentration and it decreased as sediment concentration increased. The ratio of the residual weight to the initial weight of soil aggregates(Wr/Wi) was found to increase as the linear function with an increasing flow depth(P=0.008) or Reynolds number(P=0.002) in the sediment-laden flow. The Wr/Wi values followed a power function decrease with increasing friction factor or shear stress in the sediment-laden flow, indicating that friction factor is the best hydraulic parameter for prediction of soil aggregate abrasion under different sediment load conditions. The information regarding the soil aggregate abrasion under various sediment load conditions can facilitate soil process-based erosion modeling.     

松嫩草原盐碱土细菌多样性分析

以松嫩盐碱草原3种不同盐碱程度的盐碱土为材料,应用高通量测序技术,研究了3种不同程度盐碱土壤的细菌群落结构。结果表明:3种盐碱土的理化性质差异显著(P0.05),pH值、碱化度随着盐碱化程度增加而增大,而碱解氮、速效钾和有机质含量随着盐碱化程度增加而降低;3种盐碱土共获得2841个OTU,分属于39个细菌门,其中酸杆菌门、变形菌门等10个菌门是盐碱土中最主要的细菌门类;轻度盐碱土中酸杆菌门占主导地位,相对丰度为32.28%,中度盐碱土中变形菌门占主导地位,相对丰度为19.87%,重度盐碱土中放线菌门占主导地位,相对丰度为22.57%;RDA分析表明,酸杆菌门、硝化螺旋菌门、广古菌门、TM7等的相对丰度与碱解氮、有机质以及速效钾含量呈正相关,疣微菌门的相对丰度与有效磷含量呈正相关,放线菌门、浮霉菌门、拟杆菌门、芽单胞菌门、厚壁菌门的相对丰度与pH值、碱化度呈正相关。     

有机肥对酿酒葡萄土壤微生物、酶活性及产量的影响

为明确施用不同有机肥对土壤有机质、酶活性和微生物以及酿酒葡萄产量的影响,采用田间小区设计,以5 a生赤霞珠酿酒葡萄为试验材料,研究不同有机肥对土层0～20、20～40 cm和40～60 cm中土壤有机质、酶活性和微生物的影响。以不施用有机肥为对照(CK),设置沼渣(BR)、羊粪有机肥(SMOF)、牛粪有机肥(CMOF)、猪粪有机肥(PMOF)、牛粪+沼渣有机肥(CMOF+BR)5个处理进行大田试验。结果表明:不同有机肥施用后与CK相比,土壤有机质增加6.79%～44.97%,土壤微生物碳增加19.78%～91.53%,微生物氮增加2.22倍～3.93倍,碱性磷酸酶增加57.78%～512.55%,过氧化氢酶增加53.45%～240.48%,增产15.12%～46.89%。不同土层施用牛粪有机肥相对于其它有机肥处理土壤有机质含量增长8.49%～33.29%;土壤中微生物碳、氮的含量分别增加5.30%～42.46%和6.12%～49.65%;碱性磷酸酶增大8.01%～184.63%,过氧化氢酶增加5.14%～84.27%,脲酶提高25.58%～410.70%,蔗糖酶升高6.00%～107.65%;微生物总数增多5.99%～56.56%。施用牛粪有机肥相比较其它有机肥增产7.08%～27.60%。说明在宁夏地区施用有机肥可有效提高土壤有机质的含量,增加微生物的数量,增加土壤酶活性,促进酿酒葡萄的生长发育,提高产量,其中以牛粪效果最为显著。     

河套灌区盐渍化土壤玉米水氮耦合效应

为了探求适用于盐渍化地区的节水、施肥优化模式，采用大田试验，以玉米为研究对象，选取了轻度和中度两种盐分土壤，设置了10种不同水、氮处理，建立不同盐分土壤玉米产量与灌水量及施氮量之间的回归模型并对其进行了分析，研究不同盐分土壤水、氮用量对玉米产量的影响。结果表明：在轻度和中度盐分土壤条件下，灌水和施氮对玉米均有增产效应，水、氮交互作用为正效应，水分的作用大于施氮的作用。通过边际效应分析可知，轻度和中度盐分土壤施氮肥的增产速率没有明显差异，轻度盐分土壤灌水的增产效率明显高于中度盐分土壤。轻度和中度盐分土壤玉米最高产量分别为13 581 kg·hm^-2和11 115 kg·hm^-2，对应的水、氮配比均为灌水编码为0.77（全生育期灌水量2 250 m³·hm^-2），施氮编码为0.69（总施氮量225 kg·hm^-2）。通过模型寻优，得到轻度和中度盐分土壤种植玉米的最佳水、氮配比方案均为全生育期灌水量为1 900.95~2 389.08m³·hm^-2，总施氮量为174.04~240.7 kg·hm^-2。优化方案的水、氮用量分别比当地灌水量（2 925 m³·hm^-2）节水18.2%~35%, 施氮量（325 kg·hm^-2）节肥26.0%~46.4%。优化范围包含了轻度和中度盐分的最高产量水、氮用量，产量与当地产量基本一致，符合当地灌水施肥要求。但从维持目前玉米产量和长期盐碱地改良的角度看，建议中度盐化土壤应选取水、氮优化范围中中等偏上灌水量和中等偏下的施肥量，以便于从根本上降低土壤盐分背景值，便于长期产量的提高；轻度盐分土壤选取优化范围适中的水、氮用量。     

橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁测定方法研究

为了获得简单、易操作、准确度高的橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁测定方法,本试验通过响应面优化试验,建立称样量、提取液体积、提取方式与交换性钙测定结果之间的数学模型。结果表明：在25℃条件下,以1 mol/L的乙酸铵为土壤浸提液,称样量为2 g、提取液体积175 mL、振荡36 min,为橡胶园酸性、中性土壤的最佳提取条件。将上述条件下得到的结果与标准方法条件下得到的结果相对比,两结果的相对误差在1.25~3.04之间,均属合理范围。利用标准样品对优化方法进行试验验证,结果与推荐值相符。改进后的方法分析成本低、操作简便、测定结果准确、稳定性好,可用于橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁的测定。     

放牧对土壤理化性状及植被多样性的影响

放牧是家畜饲养方式之一,是草地最简单而又有效的利用方式,但放牧中的家畜家禽通过采食牧草、践踏土壤和牧草以及粪便排泄影响着草地植被和土壤,不同的强度的放牧对地下土壤与地上植被的影响不同,本文综述了近几年来放牧对地下部土壤有机质、氮、磷、钾,土壤容重、有机碳以及微生物多样性的影响,对植被多样性及草群成分的影响等,旨在为今后家畜放牧行为研究以及放牧科学研究提供理论依据。     

油-棉连作棉田油菜秸秆覆盖对棉田杂草发生及土壤杂草种子库的动态影响

在安徽省沿江棉区开展了油菜秸秆覆盖对棉田杂草发生、棉花生长及土壤杂草种子库影响的研究。结果表明,随着油菜秸秆覆盖量的增加,对棉田杂草的抑制效果增强。与未覆盖秸秆且不除草处理相比较,7000Kg/hm²秸秆覆盖量处理棉花单株铃数和子棉产量显著提高。7000Kg/hm²秸秆覆盖量处理在覆盖后30d、60d和120d逐步减少0-20cm土层杂草种子库密度,与全程除草剂处理较一致；随着覆盖量减少,对0-20cm土层杂草种子库密度降低幅度减小。全程除草剂处理降低0-5cm土层杂草种子库多样性,而油菜秸秆覆盖则可能增加0-5cm土层的杂草种子库多样性。3500Kg/hm²覆盖量+秸秆覆盖30d后喷施除草剂处理的抑草效果和增产效果与全程除草剂处理一致。因此,在安徽省沿江棉区油-棉连作棉田推荐使用3500Kg/hm²油菜秸秆覆盖量+秸秆覆盖30d后喷施除草剂。     

不同土层复配方案对土壤水稳性团聚体及有机质的影响

为探究“治沟造地”重大工程项目（GLCP）中新增耕地快速改良的方法，达到营造良好土壤、提升新增耕地生产能力的目的，以延安羊圈沟流域的GLCP为背景，利用马兰黄土（ML）和红黏土（RC）对新造耕地0~30 cm土层进行复配试验。结果表明：当RC为20 cm、ML为10 cm（T3处理）时，复配层土壤孔隙度较对照处理增加了16.7%，容重下降了11.1%。与对照组相比，T3处理0~10、10~20、20~30 cm土层中>0.25 mm水稳性团聚体含量（W_0.25）显著增加，分别增加了11.8、12.3倍和27.9倍；T2（RC为25 cm、ML为5 cm）、T3处理更利于大团聚体的形成，较对照组除在0.25~0.5、0.5~1 mm的粒级有较大增加外，在2~5 mm和>5 mm粒径范围也有明显增加。0~20 cm土层中，即使在考虑对照组前期土壤有机质积累的情况下，T3处理的土壤有机质也与对照组相近甚至更高，且高于其他试验组，表现出更好的有机质赋存能力。T3处理的玉米生长状况较好，其地上生物量最高，较对照组提高了23.9%。研究表明，当复配土壤RC为20 cm、ML为10 cm时，土壤具有最佳的性状和生产力。试验初步证明土层复配是一种可行的快速营造高质量土壤的方法，该方法可为GLCP新造地的改良及类似土地整治工程的实施提供实践参考。     

Novel soil quality indicators for the evaluation of agricultural management practices: a biological perspective

Developments in soil biology and in methods to characterize soil organic carbon can potentially deliver novel soil quality indicators that can help identify management practices able to sustain soil productivity and environmental resilience. This work aimed at synthesizing results regarding the suitability of a range of soil biological and biochemical properties as novel soil quality indicators for agricultural management. The soil properties, selected through a published literature review, comprised different labile organic carbon fractions [hydrophilic dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), hot water extractable carbon and particulate organic matter carbon], soil disease suppressiveness measured using a Pythium-Lepidium bioassay, nematode communities characterized by amplicon sequencing and qPCR, and microbial community level physiological profiling measured with MicroResp^TM. Prior studies tested the sensitivity of each of the novel indicators to tillage and organic matter addition in ten European long-term field experiments (LTEs) and assessed their relationships with pre-existing soil quality indicators of soil functioning. Here, the results of these previous studies are brought together and interpreted relative to each other and to the broader body of literature on soil quality assessment. Reduced tillage increased carbon availability, disease suppressiveness, nematode richness and diversity, the stability and maturity of the food web, and microbial activity and functional diversity. Organic matter addition played a weaker role in enhancing soil quality, possibly due to the range of composition of the organic matter inputs used in the LTEs. POXC was the indicator that discriminated best between soil management practices, followed by nematode indices based on functional characteristics. Structural equation modeling shows that POXC has a central role in nutrient retention/supply, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, erosion control and disease regulation/suppression. The novel indicators proposed here have great potential to improve existing soil quality assessment schemes. Their feasibility of application is discussed and needs for future research are outlined.