Impacts of agricultural land management on soil quality after 24 years: A case study in Zhangjiagang County, China

Abstract

Agricultural soil quality is drastically affected in modern societies by human activities. This paper evaluates the anthropogenic influence on agricultural soil quality variation in Zhangjiagang County, China from 1980 to 2004 based on indicator selection and standard scoring function (SSF). The results indicated that after 24 years of anthropogenic influence, soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and available phosphorus (av-P) increased significantly and total phosphorus (TP) and available potassium (av-K) decreased slightly. Soil pH increased slightly for Cambosols and decreased significantly for Anthrosols. According to analysis of an integrated soil quality index (SQI), both Cambosol and Anthrosol soil quality have improved. For Cambosols, class II and III soil increased by 4.4% and 5.7%, respectively; class IV soil decreased by 10.1%. For Anthrosols, Class II soil increased in area by 74.6%; class III soil decreased to 8.1%. δSQI showed the same variation trend for Cambosols and Anthrosols. Among the total selected indicators, SOM was the main driving factor and pH was the limiting factor of soil quality base on path analysis. Current anthropogenic influence on soil quality variation was double-edged, stakeholders must pay close attention to this tendency and closely monitor not only agricultural production yields but also crop safety, long-term soil quality and environmental quality indicators, and timely direct agricultural and economic activities to achieve the best economic performance while protecting natural resources. © 2011 The Royal Society of New Zealand.