Sheep manure application increases soil exchangeable base cations in a semi-arid steppe of Inner Mongolia

The long-term productivity of a soil is greatly influenced by cation exchange capacity（CEC）.Moreover,interactions between dominant base cations and other nutrients are important for the health and stability of grassland ecosystems.Soil exchangeable base cations and cation ratios were examined in a 11-year experiment with sheep manure application rates 0–1,500 g/（m2？a） in a semi-arid steppe in Inner Mongolia of China,aiming to clarify the relationships of base cations with soil p H,buffer capacity and fertility.Results showed that CEC and contents of exchangeable calcium（Ca2＋）,magnesium（Mg2＋）,potassium（K＋） and sodium（Na＋） were significantly increased,and Ca2＋ saturation tended to decrease,while K＋ saturation tended to increase with the increases of sheep manure application rates.The Ca2＋/Mg2＋ and Ca2＋/K＋ ratios decreased,while Mg2＋,K＋ and Na＋ saturations increased with increasing manure application rates.Both base cations and CEC were significantly and positively correlated with soil organic carbon（SOC） and soil p H.The increases of SOC and soil p H would be the dominant factors that contribute to the increase of cations in soil.On a comparison with the initial soil p H before the experiment,we deduced that sheep manure application could partly buffer soil p H decrease potentially induced by atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur.Our results indicate that sheep manure application is beneficial to the maintenance of base cations and the buffering of soil acidification,and therefore can improve soil fertility in the semi-arid steppes of northeastern China.

Effect of chemical and organic fertilization on soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation in a newly cultivated farmland

Increased food demand from the rapidly growing human population has caused intensive land transition from desert to farmland in arid regions of northwest China. In this developing ecosystem, the optimized fertilization strategies are becoming an urgent need for sustainable crop productivity, efficient resources use, together with the delivery of ecosystems services including soil carbon（C） and nitrogen（N） accumulation. Through a 7-year field experiment with 9 fertilization treatments in a newly cultivated farmland, we tested whether different fertilizations had significant influences on soil C and N accumulation in this developing ecosystem, and also investigated possible mechanisms for this influence. The results showed that applying organic manure in cultivated farmland significantly increased the soil C and N accumulation rates; this influence was greater when it was combined with chemical fertilizer, accumulating 2.01 t C and 0.11 t N ha^（–1） yr^（–1） in the most successful fertilization treatment. These high rates of C and N accumulation were found associated with increased input of C and N, although the relationship between the N accumulation rate and N input was not significant. The improved soil physical properties was observed under only organic manure and integrated fertilization treatments, and the significant relationship between soil C or N and soil physical properties were also found in this study. The results suggest that in newly cultivated farmland, long term organic manure and integrated fertilization can yield significant benefits for soil C and N accumulation, and deliver additional influence on physical properties.