Fertilization Affects Biomass Production of Suaeda salsa and Soil Organic Carbon Pool in East Coastal Region of China

Land use practice significantly affects soil properties. Soil is a major sink for atmospheric carbon, and soil organic carbon （SOC） is considered as an essential indicator of soil quality. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of N and P applied to Suaeda salsa on biomass production, SOC concentration, labile organic carbon （LOC） concentration, SOC pool and carbon management index （CMI） as well as the effect of the land use practice on soil quality of coastal tidal lands in east coastal region of China. The study provided relevant references for coastal exploitation, tidal land management and related study in other countries and regions. The field experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design, consisting of four N-fertilization rates （0 （NO）, 60 （N1）, 120 （N2） and 180 kg ha-1 （N3））, three P-fertilization rates （0 （P0）, 70 （P1） and 105 kg ha-~ （P2）） and bare land without vegetation. N and P applied to S. salsa on coastal tidal lands significantly affected biomass production （above-ground biomass and roots）, bulk density （Pb）, available N and P, SOC, LOC, SOC pool and CMI. Using statistical analysis, significantly interactions in N and P were observed for biomass production and the dominant factor for S. salsa production was N in continuous 2-yr experiments. There were no significant interactions between N and P for SOC concentration, LOC concentration and SOC pool. However, significant interaction was obtained for CMI at the 0-20 cm depth and N played a dominant role in the variation of CMI. There were significant improvements for soil measured attributes and parameters, which suggested that increasing the rates of N and P significantly decreased Pb at the 0-20 cm depth and increased available N and P, SOC, LOC, SOC pool as well as CMI at both the 0-20 and 20-40 cm depth, respectively. By correlation analysis, there were significantly positive correlations between biomass （above- ground biomass and roots） and SOC as well as LOC in 2010 and 2011 across all soil depth, respectively. The treatment with N at 180 kg ha-~ and P at 105 kg ha-1 was superior to the other treatments. The results from the 2-yr continuous experiments indicated that, in short-term, there were a few accumulation of SOC and LOC concentrations by means of N and P application to S. salsa, whereas in the long run, S. salsa with N and P application was recommended for coastal tidal lands because of its great potential of carbon sequestration, improvements of soil nutrition status and promotion of soil quality.

Dynamic Monitoring of Plant Cover and Soil Erosion Using Remote Sensing, Mathematical Modeling, Computer Simulation and GIS Techniques

Dynamic monitoring of plant cover and soil erosion often uses remote sensing data, especially for estimating the plant cover rate (vegetation coverage) by vegetation index. However, the latter is influenced by atmospheric effects and methods for correcting them are still imperfect and disputed. This research supposed and practiced an indirect, fast, and operational method to conduct atmospheric correction of images for getting comparable vegetation index values in different times. It tries to find a variable free from atmospheric effects, e.g., the mean vegetation coverage value of the whole study area, as a basis to reduce atmospheric correction parameters by establishing mathematical models and conducting simulation calculations. Using these parameters, the images can be atmospherically corrected. And then, the vegetation index and corresponding vegetation coverage values for all pixels, the vegetation coverage maps and coverage grade maps for different years were calculated, i.e., the plant cover monitoring was realized. Using the vegetation coverage grade maps and the ground slope grade map from a DEM to generate soil erosion grade maps for different years, the soil erosion monitoring was also realized. The results show that in the study area the vegetation coverage was the lowest in 1976, much better in 1989, but a bit worse again in 2001. Towards the soil erosion, it had been mitigated continuously from 1976 to 1989 and then to 2001. It is interesting that a little decrease of vegetation coverage from 1989 to 2001 did not lead to increase of soil erosion. The reason is that the decrease of vegetation coverage was chiefly caused by urbanization and thus mainly occurred in very gentle terrains, where soil erosion was naturally slight. The results clearly indicate the details of plant cover and soil erosion change in 25 years and also offer a scientific foundation for plant and soil conservation.

Growth Characteristics and Yield of Late-Season Rice under No-tillage and Non-flooded Cultivation with Straw Mulching

A long-term field experiment （started at 2003） was conducted to determine the effects of different dce cultivation methods on growth characteristics and grain yield of late-season rice under double-rice cropping system in seasonal drought region of southeast China （Yujiang County, Jiangxi Province）. The rice cultivation methods included no-tillage and flooded rice cultivation （N-F）, no-tillage and non-flooded rice cultivation with straw mulching （N-SM）, and no-tillage and non-flooded rice cultivation without straw mulching （N-ZM）. There was no significant difference in rice grain yield between the N-SM and N-F treatments. However, the rice grain yields in the N-SM and N-F treatments were significantly higher than that in the N-ZM treatment. The late-season rice plants in the N-SM treatment had significantly higher numbers of effective panicles and total grains per hill compared with those in the N-ZM treatment. The above-ground dry matter of late-season rice was similar between the N-SM and N-F treatments. Compared with the N-F treatment, the N-ZM and N-SM treatments significantly decreased the leaf area at the heading stage. Moreover, the N-SM treatment could significantly increase total root length and root tip number at the grain-filling stage compared with the N-ZM treatment.

Effects of Rice-Wheat Rotation and Afforestation on Microbial Biomass Carbon in Coastal Salt-Affected Soils of Eastern China

Rice-wheat rotation and poplar afforestation are two typical land use types in the coastal reclaimed flatlands of eastern China.This study investigated two rice-wheat rotation lands(one reclaimed from 1995 to 2004 and cultivated since 2005, RW1, and the other reclaimed from 1975 to 1995 and cultivated since 1996, RW2) and a poplar woodland(reclaimed from 1995 to 2004 and planted in2004, PW1) to determine the effects of land use types and years of cultivation on soil microbial biomass and mineralizable carbon(C) in this coastal salt-affected region. The results showed that the soil in PW1 remained highly salinized, whereas desalinization was observed in RW1. The total organic C(TOC) in the top soil of PW1 and RW1 did not show significant differences, whereas at a soil depth of 20–30 cm, the TOC of RW1 was approximately 40%–67% higher than that of PW1. The TOC of 0–30-cm soil in RW2 was approximately 37% higher than that in RW1. Microbial biomass C(MBC) and mineralizable C(MNC) exhibited the trend of RW2 > RW1 > PW1. Sufficient nutrition with more abundant C substrates resulted in higher MBC and MNC, and soil respiration rates were negatively correlated with C/N in RW1 and RW2. Nutrient deficiency and high salinity played key roles in limiting MBC in PW1. These suggested that rice-wheat rotation was more beneficial than poplar afforestation for C accumulation and microbial biomass growth in the coastal salt-affected soils.

借助^(137)Cs估算滇池沉积量(英文)

The water quality of Dianchi Lake declines quickly and the eutrophication is getting serious. To identify the internal pollution load of Dianchi Lake it is necessary to evaluate its sediment accumulation. Sedimentation rates of Dianchi Lake are determined by ^137Cs dating. However, ^137Cs vertical distribution in sediment cores of Dianchi Lake has special characteristics because Dianchi Lake is located on the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Kunming quasi-stationary front is over the borders of Yunnan and Guizhou where the specific precipitation is distributed. Besides 1954, 1963 and 1986 ^137Cs marks can be determined in sediment cores, a ^137Cs mark of 1976 representing the major period of ^137Cs released from China unclear test can be determined and used for an auxiliary dating mark. Meanwhile Dianchi Lake is divided into seven sections based on the water depth, basin topography, hydrological features and supplies of silt and the lakebed area of each section is calculated. The mean annual sedimentation rates for seven sections are 0.0810, 0.1352, 0.1457, 0.1333, 0.0904, 0.1267 and 0.1023 g/cm^2 a in 1963-2003, respectively. The gross sediment accumulation of the lake is 26.18×10^4 t/a in recent 17 years and 39.86×10^4t/a in recent 50 years.

Characteristics and removal mechanism of the precursors of N-chloro-2,2-dichloroacetamide in a drinking water treatment process at Taihu Lake

N-chloro-2,2-dichloroacetamide(N-Cl-DCAM)is an emerging nitrogenous disinfection by-product(N-DBP)which can occur in drinking water.In this study,an analytical method based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)was developed to validate the concentration of N-Cl-DCAM,which was found to be 1.5µg/L in the effluent of a waterworks receiving raw water from Taihu Lake,China.The changes of N-Cl-DCAM formation potential(N-Cl-DCAMFP)in the drinking water treatment process and the removal efficiency of its precursors in each unit were evaluated.Non-polar organics accounted for the majority of N-Cl-DCAM precursors,accounting for 70%of the N-Cl-DCAM FP.The effect of conventional water treatment processes on the removal of N-Cl-DCAM precursors was found to be unsatisfactory due to their poor performance in the removal of low molecular weight(MW)or non-polar organics.In the ozonation integrated with biological activated carbon(O_(3)-BAC)process,the ozonation had little influence on the decrease of N-Cl-DCAM FP.The removal efficiency of precursors by a new BAC filter,in which the granular activated carbon(GAC)had only been used for four months was higher than that achieved by an old BAC filter in which the GAC had been used for two years.The different removal efficiencies of precursors were mainly due to the different adsorption capacities of GAC for individual precursors.Low MW or non-polar organics were predominantly removed by GAC,rather than biodegradation by microorganisms attached to GAC particles.

A NEW APPROACH TO HOLISTIC NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN CHINA

Since the 1980s,the widespread use of N fertilizer has not only resulted in a strong increase in agricultural productivity but also caused a number of environmental problems,induced by excess reactive N emissions.A range of approaches to improve N management for increased agricultural production together with reduced environmental impacts has been proposed.The 4R principles(right product,right amount,right time and right place)for N fertilizer application have been essential for improving crop productivity and N use efficiency while reducing N losses.For example,site-specific N management(as part of 4R practice)reduced N fertilizer use by 32%and increased yield by 5%in China.However,it has not been enough to overcome the challenge of producing more food with reduced impact on the environment and health.This paper proposes a new framework of food-chainnitrogen-management(FCNM).This involves good N management including the recycling of organic manures,optimized crop and animal production and improved human diets,with the aim of maximizing resource use efficiency and minimizing environmental emissions.FCNM could meet future challenges for food demand,resource sustainability and environmental safety,key issues for green agricultural transformation in China and other countries.