Plant Soil Environ., 2010, 56(2):87-97 | DOI: 10.17221/155/2009-PSE

Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China

X.B. Liu1, X.Y. Zhang1, Y.X. Wang2, Y.Y. Sui1, S.L. Zhang1, S.J. Herbert3, G. Ding4
1 Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China
2 Heilongjiang Institute of Water and Soil Conservation, Harbin, P.R. China
3 Center for Agriculture, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
4 Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, USA

Soil degradation that results from erosion, losses of organic matter and nutrients, or soil compaction are of great concern in every agricultural region of the world. The control of soil erosion and loss of organic matter has been proposed as critical to agricultural and environmental sustainability of Northeast China. This region is bread basket of China where the fertile and productive soils, Mollisols (also called Black soils), are primarily distributed. In this paper, we introduce the importance of Northeast China's grain production to China, and describe the changes of sown acreage and grain production in past decades. This paper also summarizes the distribution, area and intensity of water erosion, changes in the number of gullies and gully density, thickness of top soil layer, soil organic matter content, bulk density, field water holding capacity, and infiltration rates; the number of soil microorganism and main enzyme activities from soil erosion in the region are also summarized. The moderately and severely water-eroded area accounted for 31.4% and 7.9% of the total, and annual declining rate is 1.8%. Erosion rate is 1.24-2.41 mm/year, and soil loss in 1°, 5° and 15° sloping farmlands is 3 t/ha/year, 78 t/ha/year and 220.5 t/ha/year, respectively. SOC content of uncultivated soil was nearly twice that of soil with a 50-year cultivation history, and the average annual declining rate of soil organic matter was 0.5%. Proper adoption of crop rotation can increase or maintain the quantity and quality of soil organic matter, and improve soil chemical and physical properties. Proposed strategies for erosion control, in particular how tillage management, terraces and strip cultivation, or soil amendments contribute to maintain or restore the productivity of severely eroded farmland, are discussed in the context of agricultural sustainability with an emphasis on the Chinese Mollisols.

Keywords: soil loss; erosion control strategies; agricultural sustainability; water erosion; organic matter; Mollisol

Published: February 28, 2010  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Liu XB, Zhang XY, Wang YX, Sui YY, Zhang SL, Herbert SJ, Ding G. Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China. Plant Soil Environ.. 2010;56(2):87-97. doi: 10.17221/155/2009-PSE.
Download citation

References

  1. Alvarez C.R., Alvarez R. (2000): Short-term effects of tillage systems on active soil microbial biomass. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 31: 157-161. Go to original source...
  2. Arshad M.A., Martin S. (2002): Identifying critical limits for soil quality indicators in agro-ecosystems. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 88: 153-160. Go to original source...
  3. Bakker H.J.I. (ed.) (1990): The World Food Crisis: Food Security in Comparative Perspective. Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto, 530.
  4. Berzsenyi Z., Gyorffy B., Lap D. (2000): Effect of crop rotation and fertilization on maize and wheat yields and yield stability in a long-term experiment. European Journal of Agronomy, 13: 225-244. Go to original source...
  5. Brady N.C., Weil R.R. (2000): Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA.
  6. Carter M.R., Sanderson J.B., Ivany J.A., White R.P. (2002): Influence of rotation and tillage on forage maize productivity, weed species, and soil quality of a fine sandy loam in the cool-humid climate of Atlantic Canada. Soil and Tillage Research, 67: 85-98. Go to original source...
  7. Carter M.R., Kunelius H.T., Sanderson J.B., Kimpinski J., Platt H.W., Bolinder M.A. (2003): Productivity parameters and soil health dynamics under long-term 2-year potato rotation in Atlantic Canada. Soil and Tillage Research, 72: 153-168. Go to original source...
  8. Clapp C.E., Allmaras R.R., Layese M.F., Linden D.R., Dowdy R.H. (2000): Soil organic carbon and 13C abundance as related to tillage, crop residue, and nitrogen fertilization under continuous corn management in Minnesota. Soil and Tillage Research, 55: 127-142. Go to original source...
  9. El-Saify S.A. (1994): State of the art for assessing soil and water conservation needs and technologies. In: Napier T.L., Camboni S.M., el-Swaify S.A. (eds): Adopting conservation on the farm. An International perspective on the socioeconomics of soil and water conservation. Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, IA, 13-27.
  10. Evans R. (1980): Mechanics of water erosion and their spatial and temporal controls: an empirical viewpoint. In: Kirkby M.J., Morgan R.P.C. (eds): Soil Erosion. Wiley, Chichester, 109-128.
  11. Fang H.J., Yang X.M., Zhang X.P., Liang A.Z. (2005): Using 137 Cs tracer technique to evaluate soil erosion and deposition of a black soil in northeast China. Journal of Applied Ecology, 16: 464-468. (In Chinese) Go to original source...
  12. Farquharson R.J., Schwenke G.D., Mullen J.D. (2003): Should we manage soil organic carbon in Vertosols in the northern grains region of Australia? Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 43: 261-270. Go to original source...
  13. Gardiner D.T., Miller R.W. (2004): Soils in our environment. 10th Edition. Prentic-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. In: Hammond, A.L. (ed.) (1992): World Resources 1992-3. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  14. Hillel D.J. (1991): Out of the Earth-civilization and the Life of the Soil. The Free Press, New York. Go to original source...
  15. Izaurralde R.C., Solberg E.D., Nyborg M., Malhi S.S. (1998): Immediate effects of topsoil removal on crop productivity loss and its restoration with commercial fertilizers. Soil and Tillage Research, 46: 251-259. Go to original source...
  16. Jenny H. (1980): The Soil Resource. Origin and Behavior. Ecological Studies, Vol. 37. Springer-Verlag, New York. Go to original source...
  17. Kelley K.W., Long J.H., Todd T.C. (2003): Long-term crop rotations affect soybean yield, seed weight, and soil chemical properties. Field Crops Research, 83: 41-50. Go to original source...
  18. Kladivko E.J. (2001): Tillage systems and soil ecology. Soil and Tillage Research, 61: 61-76. Go to original source...
  19. Li Z.P., Lin X.X., Che Y.P. (2002): Analysis on soil organic carbon equilibrium and trend in main farmland of China. Journal of Soil Science, 39: 351-360. (In Chinese)
  20. Liu X.B., Han X.Z., Herbert S.J., Xing B. (2003): Dynamics of soil organic carbon under different agricultural management system in the black soil of China. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 34: 973-984. Go to original source...
  21. Liu X.B. (2004): Changes in soil quality under different agricultural management in the Chinese Mollisols. [Ph.D. Dissertation.] University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.
  22. Lützow M.V., Gel-knabner I.K., Ekschmitt K., Matzner E., Guggenberger G., Marschner B., Flessa H. (2006): Stabilization oforganicmatter in temperate soils: mechanisms and their relevance under different soil conditions - a review. European Journal of Soil Science, 57: 426-445. Go to original source...
  23. Morgan R.P.C. (2005): Soil Erosion and Conservation. 3 rd Edition, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, UK..
  24. Oledman L.R. (1994): An international methodology for an assessment of soil degradation, land georeferenced soils and terrain data base. In: The collection and analysis of land degradation data. FAO-RAPA Publication 1994/3, Bangkok, 35-60.
  25. Robinson C.A., Cruse R.M., Kohler K.A. (1994): Soil management, 109-134. In: Hatfield J.L., Karlen D.L. (ed.): Sustainable Agricultural Systems. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL.
  26. Sui Y.Y., Liu X.B., Jin J., Zhang S.L., Zhang X.Y., Herbert S.J., Ding G.W. (2009): Differentiating the short-term impacts of topsoil removal and soil amendments on crop performance/productivity of corn and soybean in eroded farmland of Chinese Mollisols. Field Crops Research, 111: 276-283. Go to original source...
  27. Varvel G.E. (2000): Crop rotation and nitrogen effects on normalized grain yields in a long-term study. Agronomy Journal, 92: 938-941. Go to original source...
  28. Voroney R.P., van Veen J.A., Paul E.A. (1981): Organic carbon dynamics in grassland soils. II. Model validation and simulation of the long-term effects of cultivation and rainfall erosion. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 61: 211-224. Go to original source...
  29. Wang J.K., Wang T.D., Zhang X.D. (2002): An approach to the changes of black soil quality (I) Changes of the indices of black soil with the years of reclamation. Journal of Shenyang Agricultural University, 33: 43-47. (In Chinese)
  30. Xing B., Liu X.B., Liu J.D., Han X.Z. (2004): Physical and chemical characteristics of a typical Mollisol in China. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 35: 1829-1838. Go to original source...
  31. Zhang X.Y., Cruse R.M., Sui Y.Y., Zhao J. (2006a): Soil compaction induced by small tractor traffic in northeast China. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 70: 613-619. Go to original source...
  32. Zhang X.Y., Liu X.B., Sui Y.Y. (2006b): Effect of artificial topsoil removal on dry matter accumulation and yield in soybean, Soybean Science, 25: 53-60. (In Chinese)
  33. Zhang X.Y., Wang Q.C., Sui Y.Y., Yu T.Y. (2006c): Spatial-temporal evolvement of soil moisture and their spatial correlations analysis with soybean yield in a Black Soil Sloping Farmland. Soil, 38: 410-416. (In Chinese)
  34. Zhang X.Y., Sui Y.Y., Zhang X.D., Meng K., Herbert S.J. (2007): Spatial variability of nutrient properties in black soil of northeast China. Pedosphere, 17: 19-29. Go to original source...

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.