How to Improve the Benefits of Short-Term Fallow on Soil Physicochemical and Microbial Properties: A Case Study from the Yellow River Delta

Yaoben Lin, Yuanbo Wang, Xingjun Lv, Shuangyan Yue, Hongmei Liu, Guangyu Li () and Jinghui Zhao
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Yaoben Lin: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Land Consolidation, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710075, China
Yuanbo Wang: Observation and Research Station of Land Use Security in the Yellow River Delta, Ministry of Natural Resources (NMR), Shandong Provincial Territorial Spatial Ecological Restoration Center, Jinan 250014, China
Xingjun Lv: Observation and Research Station of Land Use Security in the Yellow River Delta, Ministry of Natural Resources (NMR), Shandong Provincial Territorial Spatial Ecological Restoration Center, Jinan 250014, China
Shuangyan Yue: Observation and Research Station of Land Use Security in the Yellow River Delta, Ministry of Natural Resources (NMR), Shandong Provincial Territorial Spatial Ecological Restoration Center, Jinan 250014, China
Hongmei Liu: Observation and Research Station of Land Use Security in the Yellow River Delta, Ministry of Natural Resources (NMR), Shandong Provincial Territorial Spatial Ecological Restoration Center, Jinan 250014, China
Guangyu Li: Institute of Land and Urban-Rural Development, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310058, China
Jinghui Zhao: Hangzhou Yuanjie Space Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310030, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Fallowing is regarded as an effective method for the self-recovery management of farmland and is generally used in cultivated land management. Studies have shown that long-term fallow has many ecological and environmental benefits. However, the long-term fallowing of farmland has also caused a decline in the grain production of farmland for a period of time. Short-term fallow can reduce the risk of food insecurity, but there are few studies on short-term fallow, especially on the comparation of different fallowing management methods and their relationship with soil microbial ecology. Our study has focused on seven treatments. Firstly, the traditional farming method was set as the control group. Native vegetation and crop-pasture vegetation were set as the fallowing vegetation. There were three irrigation–fertilization levels for each vegetation. The effects of the sampling times showed that the impact of fallow management on the soil properties became gradually stronger with time. The interactions between the sampling times and treatments showed a significant impact on organic carbon and total nitrogen. There was a significant impact of fallow management on the inorganic carbon accumulation and ammonia nitrogen consumption. Microbial biomass carbon was significantly increased by fallowing. Fallowing with irrigation could enhance the soil microbial nitrogen transformation. Some genera associated with assisting diseases were significantly increased by the native vegetation fallow and grass fallow with farmyard manure. The fallow with native vegetation showed more advantageous ecological benefits than the crop-pasture vegetation fallow. Although the crop-pasture vegetation followed the principle of ecological intensification, it failed to show better ecological benefits in the short fallow period. In irrigation management, the benefits of native vegetation and crop-pasture vegetation are similar. However, considering the lower cost of crop-pasture vegetation, crop-pasture vegetation fallow with irrigation could be a better choice. If it is difficult to implement conservation measures during the fallowing process, native vegetation fallowing without management may be the only fallowing choice.

Keywords: short-term fallow; farmland; managements; soil microbiota (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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