Response of Grassland Soil Quality to Shallow Plowing and Nutrient Addition

Bin Li, Guohua Ren (), Xiangyang Hou (), Xiaotian An and Guanhua Lv
Additional contact information
Bin Li: College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
Guohua Ren: College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
Xiangyang Hou: College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
Xiaotian An: College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
Guanhua Lv: College of Grassland Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Due to differences in the soil environment and grassland management measures, the change characteristics of soil microbial entropy and soil comprehensive quality in different types of grassland may vary significantly. In this study, the spatial variation characteristics of grassland soil microbial entropy under shallow plowing and nutrient addition measures were studied using a networking experimental platform established in a temperate meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe in northern China. The grassland soil quality was comprehensively evaluated to provide a theoretical basis for the scientific and reasonable management of grasslands under global climate change. The results show that in the meadow steppe, shallow plowing and nutrient addition significantly decreased the soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial entropy in the region, resulting in a decrease in the comprehensive score of soil quality. In the typical steppe, due to the influence of shallow tillage measures, the microbial biomass of the grassland soil in the region was higher than that of the control group and its two treatments, and the comprehensive score of soil quality was ranked first among the four treatments. In the desert steppe, the interaction of shallow plowing and nutrient addition significantly increased the soil microbial entropy in the region. Under the nutrient addition measures, the soil microbial entropy of the desert steppe showed a downward trend. In addition, the soil C/N ratio of the desert grassland under nutrient addition measures increased significantly, and the comprehensive score of soil quality ranked first among the four treatments as the microbial entropy decreased significantly.

Keywords: grassland; shallow plowing; nutrient; soil microbial quotient; soil quality; principal component analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2308/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2308/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2308-:d:1048948

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().