Distribution of Soil Zinc，Iron，Copper and Manganese Fractions and Its Relationship with Plant Availability

The distribution of various fractions of Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn in 15 types of sods in China and its rela-tionship with plant availability were studied. Wactions of various elements were found to have some similarcharacteristic distribution regularities in wirious types of soils, but various soil types derered to varyingdegrees in the distribution of each fraction. Soil physico-chemical properties, such as pH, CEC and thecontents of OM, CaCO_3, free Fe, free Mn and P_2O_5, were signdicantly correlated with the distribution ofelemental fractions, and a significazit correlation also existed between the distribution and plant amilabilityof elemental fractions. Varfous fractions of each element were divided into two groups bed on their plantavailability. The correlation between the distribution of combination fractions aiid plaxit availability indi-cated a significantly or an extremely significantly positive correlation for Group I but a significantly or anextremely significantly negative correlation for Group II. Therefore, the fractions in Group I were primarypools of available nutrients, while those in Group II could hardly provide available nutrients for plants. Descreasing the transformation of corresponding elements into fractions of Group 11 and increasing the storagecapacity of various fractions of Group I were an important direction for regulation and controiling of soilnutrients. However, some Particular soils with too high contents of Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn should be regulatedand controlled adversely

A thermodynamic model on predicting density of medium-Mn steels with experimental verification

A new model on predicting the density of hot-rolled multi-phased medium-Mn steel has been presen ted on the basis of thermodynamic calculations. This is an integrated model, which includes one for calculating the retained austenite （RA） fraction and the other for volume expansion during the aus tenite-to martensite transformation, because both of them are key parameters for calculating the den- sity of steel at ambient temperature. The existing empirical equations for calculating Mx temperature and lattice constants of both martensite and austenite have been all rcassessed by the XRD measure ments on the microstructures of seven hot-rolled medium-Mn steels. Finally, the densities ot seven steels were calculated merely from compositions and compared with the measured ones. The differ ence between them is no more than 1 %, suggesting that the presented model should be of good value in designing the low density steels.

Dynamics and Availability of Different Pools of Manganese in Semiarid Soils as Affected by Cropping System and Fertilization

Manganese(Mn) deficiencies are common in soils on the Loess Plateau of China. This research provided essential information on improving Mn availability in semiarid soils through agricultural practices. Twelve cropping system and fertilization treatments were designed in a 28-year experiment. The cropping systems included long-term fallow, continuous winter wheat cropping, pea(1 year)-winter wheat(2 years)-millet(1 year) rotation(crop-legume rotation) cropping, and continuous alfalfa cropping. The fertilizer treatments under the cropping systems included no-fertilizer control(CK), application of P fertilizer(P), application of N and P fertilizers(NP), and application of N and P fertilizers and manure(NPM), but the NP treatment was excluded in the continuous alfalfa cropping system. Available Mn and Mn fractions of soil samples(0–20 and 20–40 cm depths) were measured and further analyzed quantitatively using path analyses. Results showed that the crop-legume rotation and continuous alfalfa cropping systems significantly increased available Mn compared with the fallow soil. Compared with the no-fertilizer control, manure application increased available Mn in soil of the continuous wheat cropping system. Across all treatments, the averaged content of mineral-, oxide-, carbonateand organic matter-bound and exchangeable Mn accounted for 42.08%, 38.59%, 10.05%, 4.59%, and 0.09% of the total Mn in soil,respectively. Cropping significantly increased exchangeable Mn in soil and the highest increase was 185.7% in the continuous wheat cropping system at 0–20 cm depth, compared with the fallow soil. Fertilization generally increased exchangeable and carbonate-bound Mn in soil. Carbonate-bound Mn was the main and direct source of available Mn in soil, followed by exchangeable and organic matterbound Mn. These results indicated that crop-legume rotation cropping, continuous alfalfa cropping and application of manure, have the potential to promote Mn availability in soils of rainfed farmlands.