Characteristics of Soil Organic Carbon, Total Nitrogen, and C/N Ratio in Chinese Apple Orchards

Soil organic carbon and nitrogen are used as indexes of soil quality assessment and sustainable land use management. At the same time, soil C/N ratio is a sensitive indicator of soil quality and for assessing the carbon and nitrogen nutrition balance of soils. We studied the characteristics of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen by investigating a large number of apple orchards in major apple production areas in China. High apple orchard soil organic carbon content was observed in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, and Yunnan, whereas low content was found in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Shaanxi, with the values ranging between 6.44 and 7.76 g·kg-1. Similar to soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen content also exhibited obvious differences in the 12 major apple producing provinces. Shandong apple orchard soil had the highest total nitrogen content (1.26 g·kg-1), followed by Beijing (1.23 g·kg-1). No significant difference was noted between these two regions, but their total nitrogen content was significantly higher than the other nine provinces, excluding Yunnan. The soil total nitrogen content for Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Henan, and Gansu was between 0.87 and 1.03 g·kg-1, which was significantly lower than that in Shandong and Beijing, but significantly higher than that in Liaoning, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. Six provinces exhibited apple orchard soil C/N ratio higher than 10, including Heilongjiang (15.42), Xinjiang (13.38), Ningxia (14.45), Liaoning (12.24), Yunnan (11.03), and Gansu (10.63). The soil C/N ratio was below 10 in the remaining six provinces, in which the highest was found in Shaanxi (9.47), followed by Beijing (8.98), Henan (7.99), and Shanxi (7.62), and the lowest was found in Hebei (6.80) and Shandong (6.05). Therefore, the improvement of soil organic carbon should be given more attention to increase the steady growth of soil C/N ratio.

Effects of Soil C/N Ratio on Apple Growth and Nitrogen Utilization,Residue and Loss

Soil C /N ratio is an important influencing factor in soil nitrogen cycling. Two-year old apple trees( Borkh. cv. ‘Fuji'/Malus hupehensis) were used to understand the effect of soil C/N ratio [6. 52( CK),10,15,20,25,30,35 and 40]on apple growth and nitrogen utilization and loss by using15N trace technique. The results showed that,with the increasing of soil C/N ratio,apple shoot length and fresh weight increased at first,and then decreased; the higher apple shoot length and fresh weight appeared in C/N = 15,20 and 25 treatments,and there were no significant differences among these three treatments,but significantly higher than the other treatments. Statistical analysis revealed that there was significant difference in nitrogen utilization rate between the different treatments,the highest N utilization rate was occurred in soil C/N = 25 treatment which value was 22. 87%,and there was no significant difference between soil C/N = 25 and C/N = 20 treatments,but both the two treatments were significantly higher than the other treatments; Soil C/N = 40 had the lowest N utilization rate which value was 15. 43%,and this value was less than CK( 16. 65%). The proportion of plant absorption nitrogen from fertilizer was much higher when the value of soil C/N ratio in the range of 15- 25,but the percentage of plant absorption nitrogen from soil was much higher when the soil C/N ratio was too low( < 15) or high( < 25). Amount of residual nitrogen in soil increased gradually with the soil C/N ratio increasing,the amount of residual nitrogen in C/N = 40 treatment was 1. 32 times than that in CK. With the increasing of soil C/N ratio,fertilizer nitrogen loss decreased at first,and then increased,fertilizer nitrogen loss was the minimum in C/N = 25 treatments( 49. 87%) and the maximum were occurred in CK( 61. 54%). Therefore,regarding the apple growth and nitrogen balance situation,the value of soil C/N ratio in the range of 15- 25 would be favorable for apple growth and could increase effectively nitrogen fixed by soil,reduce nitrogen loss,and improve the nitrogen utilization ratio.