Current Soil Nutrient Status of Intensively Managed Greenhouses

Nine districts covering the main greenhouse vegetable areas in Tianjin Municipality of the North China Plain were selected for the soil investigation in 2010 to survey the current soil nutrient status (soil available N, P and K), acidification and salinization due to excessive input of fertilizers in greenhouses in Tianjin. The study showed that, in particular, soil available P content increased with the age of greenhouses. In contrast, our results did not reveal higher K accumulation and lowered pH in the greenhouse soils compared with cultivation in open fields. Over-fertilization, causing high NO 3 accumulation, most likely resulted in salinity problems in the greenhouses. Ninety percent of the investigated greenhouse soils had electrical conductivity values of saturated paste extracts of 2-10 d S m-1 , which might affect the yields of vegetable crops like green bean, pepper, cabbage, carrot, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, celery, cucumber and tomato. The findings of our survey of the current fertility and salinity problems in greenhouse soils suggest that there is an urgent need to improve the farmers' practices and strategies in fertilization management in greenhouses of China. Because education and the agricultural technical extension services may play a more important role in avoiding overuse of fertilizers, we suggest that current nutrient management practices should be improved in the near future through training of local farmers in farmers' schools and through strengthening the agricultural extension services with practical techniques.

Evaluating the Validity of a Nitrate Quick Test in Different Chinese Soils

Because laboratory tests are expensive and time-consuming and may not be available to farmers, soil nitrate quick tests are required for optimal nitrogen management strategies in China to increase nitrogen use effciency and to reduce nitrogen losses. A total of 328 soil samples were collected at different soil depths from 225 sites in China, which covered a wide range of climatic and geographic regions, soil types, croplands and soil textures, to evaluate the suitability of a quick reflectometer test method for analysing soil NO-3-N in a wide range of soil NO-3 concentrations, soil types and cropping systems in China, mainly by comparison of soil NO-3-N assessed by a quick-test method (a reflectometer) and a standard laboratory method, i.e., high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The reflectometer showed excellent agreement with the laboratory HPLC method with regard to soil nitrate contents for all analysed soil samples. The linear regression had slopes of 1 ± 0.08 and intercepts of ±1.38 mg NO-3-N L-1 among different soil types and croplands. Compared with the 1:1 lines, the regression analysis for each soil type showed statistically significant but small differences in slope; the relative difference between the values measured using the two analytical systems varied from -8% to 6%, and there were no differences in intercept except for paddy soil. The reflectometer showed adequate, statistically significant precision in determining soil nitrate contents, and it could therefore be directly used instead of the laboratory methods for soil NO-3-N measurement in China.