Effects of different re-vegetation patterns on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in the wind-water erosion crisscross region, China

• Published in: Ying yong sheng tai xue bao Vol. 27; no. 1; p. 91
• Main Authors: Liu, Xue-tong, Wei, Yan-chun, Yang, Xian-long, Hao, Ming-de, Wei, Xiao-rong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01.01.2016
• Subjects: Carbon - analysis; China; Environmental Restoration and Remediation; Nitrogen - analysis; Plants; Soil - chemistry; Water; Wind
• ISSN: 1001-9332

This study was conducted to analyze the responses of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) to three typical re-vegetation patterns, i.e., grassland, alfalfa land and peashrub land on the Loess Plateau of China, and also to assess the dynamics of SOC and TN with re-vegetation age. The results showed that all the three re-vegetation practices increased the concentrations of SOC and TN in the 0-10 cm soil layer, but their effects differed with re-vegetation age. Compared with adjacent croplands, the concentrations of SOC and TN in the 0-10 cm soil layer in grassland did not change within 10 years of succession, but increased after 20 years of succession. In alfalfa land, the concentrations of SOC and TN increased by 51.6%-82.9% and 43.4%-67.0% in the 0-10 cm soil layer, with the increasing rates of stocks of SOC and TN being 0.17-0.46 and 0.015-0.043 t · hm⁻² · a⁻¹, respectively. However, SOC and TN were not affected by re-vegetation age in alfalfa land. The increases of concentrations of SOC and TN