Long-Term Cropping Effects on Agricultural Sustainability in Alar Oasis of Xinjiang, China

Sustainability

Lu Gong¹  Guixiang He²  Weiguo Liu¹ 

[1] College of Resources and Environment Science, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China;Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, University of Chinese academy of sciences, Urumqi 830011, China;

关键词: agricultural sustainability;    continuous cropping;    soil quality;    Alar Oasis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su8010061

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Agricultural sustainability has become a major concern in arid regions of China. In order to better understand the influence of continuous cropping on soil quality, six experimental fields were established in the Alar Oasis of Xinjiang, including uncultivated land (as a zero year treatment duration) and five different continuous cropping years on cotton fields, with different cropping durations (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years, respectively). Thirteen soil indicators were selected including soil physicochemical properties, nutrient properties and enzymatic activities. The results show that duration of continuous cropping of cotton fields significantly influences a number of soil properties. Cultivation durations ranked according to soil quality indexes (SQI) are as follows: 15 years (0.828) > 20 years (0.816) > 10 years (0.668)> 5 years (0.548) > 25 years (0.377) > 0 years (0.205), and sustainable yield index (SYI) are as follows: 10 years (0.830) > 15 years (0.777) > 20 years (0.667) > 5 years (0.586) > 25 years (0.159).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.