Effect of Soil Configuration on Alfalfa Growth under Drought Stress

Xiaofeng Yang, Yimeng Zhang, Jianqiang Liang and Xingchang Zhang ()
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Xiaofeng Yang: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dry-Land Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Xianyang 712100, China
Yimeng Zhang: College of Language and Culture, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang 712100, China
Jianqiang Liang: Bio-Agriculture Institute of Shaanxi, Xi’an 710043, China
Xingchang Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dry-Land Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Xianyang 712100, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: This paper aims to compare the effect of different soil configurations on plant growth under long-term drought to provide a theoretical basis for soil reclamation and vegetation restoration in the contiguous area between Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia, China. With the widely distributed montmorillonite-enriched sandstone in this area as the soil structure ameliorator and the sandy soil as the test soil, indoor simulation and soil column tests were conducted to study the water holding capabilities of different reconstructed soils configurations. The drought stress test of alfalfa on these soils explored the correlation between the growth of alfalfa and soil water in various configurations. The soil–water characteristic curve and soil texture were analyzed to determine plant survival. The results showed that the addition of montmorillonite-enriched sandstone with high water holding capacity and water diffusion rates could increase the water content of the sandy soil. The treatments with 20 and 30 cm montmorillonite-enriched sandstone at the depths of 20–40 cm and 20–50 cm demonstrated the longest survival time (60 days and 59 days), the highest germination (34% and 35%), and the highest water holding capacity (22.6% and 27.3%), indicating that soils with higher water holding capacity and lower diffusion rates could be used as a reservoir, in combination with other soil materials with high water content, and that the addition of the montmorillonite-enriched sandstone layer at 20–30 cm in the sandy soil is the optimal choice for topsoil reclamation in open-mining areas.

Keywords: soil configuration; drought stress; leaf water potential; montmorillonite-enriched sandstone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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