Land Use and Soil Type Exert Strongly Interactive Impacts on the pH Buffering Capacity of Acidic Soils in South China

Jiayue Yang, Hui Wei, Jiaen Zhang (), Zhaoji Shi, Hongru Li, Yanqiong Ye and Ahmed Ibrahim Abdo
Additional contact information
Jiayue Yang: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Hui Wei: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Jiaen Zhang: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Zhaoji Shi: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Hongru Li: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Yanqiong Ye: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Ahmed Ibrahim Abdo: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Circular Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Soil acidification is a severe environmental problem around the world. Soil pH buffering capacity (pHBC) is the intrinsic factor affecting the soil acidification rate and is intensively impacted by anthropogenic and natural conditions. However, composite assessments of the effects of land use and soil type on soil pHBC are still limited. Therefore, we collected samples of five soil types (red soil, lateritic red soil, latosol, paddy soil and acid sulphate soil) from two land use patterns of agricultural and adjacent forest fields at different depths (0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm) in South China, aiming to investigate the effects of land use and soil type on soil pHBC in this region. The results show that land use, soil type and their interactions greatly influence soil pHBC and physico-chemical properties. Forest soils have a significantly higher pHBC (11.40–49.50 mmol·kg −1 soil·unit −1 pH), cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable Al 3+ (EAl 3+ ) and clay content than agricultural soils. Acid sulphate soil has the highest pHBC (49.27–117.83 mmol·kg −1 soil·unit −1 pH) values and exchangeable acid (EA) content among all investigated soil types, whereas lateritic red soil has the lowest pHBC (10.56–31.71 mmol·kg −1 soil·unit −1 pH). In agricultural fields, soil pHBC is positively related to CEC, soil organic carbon (SOC) and EA, indicating that agricultural soils may be in a cation exchange buffering stage. The soil pHBC of forest fields is positively correlated with SOC and EAl 3+ , implying that forest soils may be in the Al buffering stage. In conclusion, soil pHBC would vary with different land use forms and soil types, in which a series of key complex physico-chemical processes and interactions would occur to regulate soil pH buffering capacity.

Keywords: aluminum buffering; soil organic carbon; pH buffering capacity; soil acidification; soil texture (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12891/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12891/ (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:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12891-:d:937427

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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