Efficacy of Fertilization in Improving Soil Aggregation,Carbon and Nitrogen in Soil Reclaimed from Subsided Areas Caused by Coal Mining北大核心CSCD

【Objective】The objective of this paper is to present experimental results on efficacy of fertilization in improving aggregation and carbon and nitrogen accumulation in soil reclaimed from subsided areas caused by coal mining.【Method】The experiment was conducted under conventional irrigation with non-fertilization as the CK. We compared three treatments: applying organic fertilizer, inorganic fertilizer, and mixture of organic and inorganic fertilizer. For each treatment, we measured the size of soil aggregates, and carbon and nitrogen content in 0~20 cm and 20~40 cm soil in a coal mining-induced subsided area at Jincheng City in Shanxi Province.【Result】Compared to CK, organic fertilizer significantly increased the content of macro-aggregates sized >1 mm, and reduced the content of micro-aggregates sized < 0.25 mm. Inorganic fertilization enhanced formation of micro-aggregates, compared to organic fertilization. Applying organic fertilizer significantly increased the average weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of the aggregates, and reduced the fractal dimension D of the aggregates. The content of organic carbon and total nitrogen in soil under organic fertilization was the highest, followed by organic-inorganic fertilization. The content of carbon and total nitrogen in soil with a single application of inorganic fertilizer was much lower than that under organic fertilization. Majority of organic carbon and total nitrogen were found in aggregates > 0.2 mm, 1～2 mm and 0.25～1 mm, especially under organic and organic-inorganic fertilization. The C∶N ratio in all aggregates (except those in 0.053～0.25 mm) was much lower under organic and organic-inorganic fertilization than under CK, and C∶N ratio in CK and inorganic fertilization was comparable.【Conclusion】Fertilizations, especially organic fertilizer, can enhance macro-aggregation in reclaimed soil from subsided areas induced by coal mining. It also increased the content of organic carbon and total nitrogen in the aggregates. © 2019 Authors. All rights reserved.