Evaluation of soil quality along two revegetation chronosequences on the Loess Hilly Region of China

Shujuan Guo; Xinhui Han; Hui Li; Tao Wang; Xiaogang Tong; Guangxin Ren; Yongzhong Feng; Gaihe Yang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.210

Evaluation of soil quality along two revegetation chronosequences on the Loess Hilly Region of China

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Aug 15:633:808-815. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.210. Epub 2018 Mar 28.

Authors

Shujuan Guo¹, Xinhui Han², Hui Li³, Tao Wang¹, Xiaogang Tong⁴, Guangxin Ren⁵, Yongzhong Feng¹, Gaihe Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China; The Research Center of Recycle Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Shaanxi Province, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China.
² College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China; The Research Center of Recycle Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Shaanxi Province, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: hanxinhui@nwsuaf.edu.cn.
³ College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
⁴ College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
⁵ College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China; The Research Center of Recycle Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Shaanxi Province, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: rengx@nwsuaf.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China; The Research Center of Recycle Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Shaanxi Province, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: ygh@nwsuaf.edu.cn.

PMID: 29758912
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.210

Abstract

Vegetation restoration has been widely implemented to control soil degradation, reduce soil erosion, and improve soil quality. It is vital to understand the mechanisms affecting soil quality in soil restoration processes and to determine an appropriate recover pattern for soil restoration. Thus, a soil quality index was developed using integrated approach to assess soil quality after vegetation restoration in this study. Soil samples were collected from two restoration pathways (afforestation by Robinia pseudoacacia L. and natural recovery of abandoned farmland) with ages sequence of 0, 17,27 and 42years old at two soil depths (0-10 and 10-20cm) to measure soil physicochemical and biological properties on the Loess Hilly Region of China, China. The results showed that soil quality index (SQI) was developed based on microbial biomass carbon (MBC), fine particles (FP), and total phosphorus (TP). The MBC, which had the fastest increase rate than TP and FP, had the highest contribution to the final SQI and these contributions increased with recovery age. The MBC values were higher in Robinia pseudoacacia L. than in abandoned land sites at all recovery ages with greater increases along with restoration age. The SQI values significantly increased with increasing restoration age up to 27years (P<0.05). After 27years, SQI values for the AL sites remained stable, while SQI values for RP sites continually improved with increasing restoration age. In addition, SQI values were higher for RP sites than for AL sites for all restoration ages.

Keywords: Microbial biomass carbon; Restoration pathway; Soil quality index; Vegetation restoration.