Evaluation of Soil Quality in a Composite Pecan Orchard Agroforestry System Based on the Smallest Data Set

Cheng Huang, Zhaocheng Wang, Xiaoliang Ren, Xiaomin Ma, Mengyu Zhou, Xiang Ge, Hua Liu () and Songling Fu ()
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Cheng Huang: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Zhaocheng Wang: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Xiaoliang Ren: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Xiaomin Ma: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Mengyu Zhou: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Xiang Ge: Fuyang Xinfeng Seed Industry Co., Ltd., Fuyang 236000, China
Hua Liu: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Songling Fu: Department of Forest, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Agroforestry not only takes into account the use of land for forestry and agriculture but can also improve the efficacy of utilized above- and belowground resources, which have always garnered widespread attention. The objective of this study is to evaluate the quality of pecan orchard soil following the implementation of agroforestry. Consequently, 15 indices were selected for a principal component analysis (PCA), which was then combined with the norm value of each index and the correlation coefficients between indices to establish a minimum data set (MDS). A comprehensive index model was used to calculate the soil quality index (SQI) of the total data set (TDS) and MDS (SQI-TDS and SQI-MDS, respectively), and a linear regression of the two was performed. The results revealed that the MDS indices for the evaluation of soil fertility included the pH, electrical conductivity value (EC), bulk density (BD), available potassium (AK), total nitrogen (TN), magnesium (Mg), and the index screening and filtering rates attained 60%. The Soil Quality Index (SQI-MDS) of the four planting patterns, sorted from largest to smallest, were: PPS (0.573) > PPH (0.519) > PPL (0.355) > CK (0.315). BD and AK were the main factors that affected the quality of hickory orchard soils. The agroforestry composite system improved the availability of nutrients and soil quality. Thus, the promotion of understory intercropping and appropriate increases in potassium fertilizers for plantations are recommended.

Keywords: pecan; soil quality evaluation; minimum data set; principal component analysis; environmental factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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