Impact of Land Use and Soil Fertility on Distributions of Soil Aggregate Fractions and Some Nutrients

The size distribution of water-stable aggregates and the variability of organic C,N and P contents over aggregate size fractions were studied for orchard,upland,paddy,and grassland soils with high,medium,and low fertility levels.The results showed that > 5 mm aggregates in the cultivated upland and paddy soils were 44.0% and 32.0%,respectively,less than those in the un-tilled orchard soil.Organic C and soil N in different size aggregate fractions in orchard soil with high fertility were significantly higher than those of other land uses.However,the contents of soil P in different size aggregates were significantly greater in the paddy soil as compared to the other land uses.Soil organic C,N and P contents were higher in larger aggregates than those in smaller ones.The amount of water-stable aggregates was positively correlated to their contribution to soil organic C,N and P.For orchard and grassland soils,the > 5 mm aggregates made the greatest contribution to soil nutrients,while for upland soil,the 0.25-0.053 mm aggregates contributed the most to soil nutrients.Therefore,the land use with minimum disturbance was beneficial for the formation of a better soil structure.The dominant soil aggregates in different land use types determined the distribution of soil nutrients.Utilization efficiency of soil P could be improved by converting other land uses to the paddy soil.

Dynamics of Soil and Grain Micronutrients as Affected by Long-Term Fertilization in an Aquic Inceptisol

Micronutrient status in soils can be affected by long-term fertilization and intensive cropping.A 19-year experiment (1990-2008) was carried out to investigate the influence of different fertilization regimes on micronutrients in an Aquic Inceptisol and maize and wheat grains in Zhengzhou,China.The results showed that soil total Cu and Zn markedly declined after 19 years with application of N fertilizer alone.Soil total Fe and Mn were significantly increased mainly due to atmospheric deposition.Applications of P and organic fertilizer with incorporation of straws resulted in dramatic increases in soil total Cu,Zn,Fe,and Mn.Soil diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA)-extractable Cu in all treatments sharply decreased from initially 1.12 to about 0.8 mg kg -1 .The treatments with organic fertilizer had the highest soil DTPA-extractable Cu,Zn,Fe,and Mn after 19 years of cropping and fertilization,thus demonstrating the important role of organic fertilizer application in improving available micronutrient status.Cu and Zn contents in wheat grains in the no-P treatments were significantly higher than those of the treatments with P application.In addition,Fe and Mn contents in wheat grains were positively correlated with their soil DTPA-extractable concentrations.These indicated that the long-term application of organic fertilizer resulted in significant increases in soil total and available micronutrient concentrations and remarkable reduction in wheat grain Cu and Zn contents,which was due to high soil available P.