Effect of Agricultural Land Use Changes on Soil Nutrient Use Efficiency in an Agricultural Area,Beijing,China

Agricultural land use and management practices may affect soil properties,which play a critical role in sustaining crop production.Since the late 1970s,several new agricultural land use types had been introduced in the rural areas of China.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of these land use changes on the soil properties,nu-trient absorption rate,and nutrient use economic efficiency ratio in an agricultural area of Beijing.Specifically,the cropland,the orchard and the vegetable field were examined.Results of this study suggest that land use and farming management practices significantly affect the content of soil organic carbon (SOC),total nitrogen (TN),total phos-phorus (TP),and available phosphorus in the surface layer of 0-25 cm (p<0.05) in the Yanqing Basin,northwestern Beijing.Soil nutrients in each agricultural land use type decrease rapidly with the increasing soil depth.Orchard and vegetable field tend to have higher soil nutrients than the cropland does.However,the soil nutrient-absorption rate (NAR) of the orchard and vegetable field is lower than that of the cropland,even though orchard and vegetable field may provide much higher economic benefit.While increasing SOC,TN,and TP in the orchard and vegetable field by intensive farming may be a valuable option to improve soil quality,potential increase in the risk of nutrient loss,or agricultural non-point source pollution can be a tradeoff if the intensive practices are not managed appropriately.

Dynamics of Nutrient Accumulation in Maize Plants Under Different Water and N Supply Conditions

The dynamics of accumulations of plant dry matter, nutrient uptake and N fertilizer recovery were studied with different water and N supply, using summer maize (Zea mays L. var. Shandan9) as an indicator crop. The total dry matter (including roots) and N, P, K uptake amounts were continuously increased with plant growth, and their accumulations with time during plant-growing period were shaped in S curves that could be described by exponential regression equations. Differentiating the regression equations fitting the curves over time for first derivatives, the momentary rate was obtained of the dry matter and nutrient uptake. Results show that the dry matter and the nutrient uptake were not in the same rate at all time, but changed from one time to another. Usually, the rate increased rapidly at early stages, and gradually decreased after reaching their peak. Of N, P and K, the uptake rate of N and K was higher, and their increase and decrease were both fast while P was reversed. The time of the maximum absorptive rate appeared earlier for K, followed by N, and then by P. In any case, the maximum nutrient uptake rate appeared earlier than did the dry matter. The momentary N recovery rate was similar in trend to those of dry matter and N uptake, and its maximum recovery rate occurred almost at the same time as its maximum uptake rate. Supplemental irrigation raised the cumulative and momentary rates of N. Although water and N supplies increased dry matter and nutrient uptake rates, they did not alter their changing trends during the plant-growing period.