Effects of different land use patterns on soil potassium distribution in Chengdu Plain, China

Abstract

To explore the effects of land use change on the potassium in soil profile under the background of rapid urbanization, we collected data of 187 soil profiles from four typical land use patterns (rice-wheat, rice-vegetable, rice-oil and garden) in Chengdu Plain. The contents of available potassium (AP), slow-acting potassium (SP), mineral potassium (MP), and total potassium (TP) in soil profile under different land use patterns and their relationships were analyzed. Our results showed that compared with the traditional rotation (rice-wheat, rice-oil), soil AP and SP contents significantly varied among different land use patterns. Rice-vegetable rotation increased the contents of AP and SP in the surface soil, while garden land increased the consumption of AP and SP in the soil. For the more stable forms, soil MP and TP, there was no significant difference in their contents under different land use patterns. In the deep soil, the content of AP in the rice-vegetable rotation pattern was significantly decreased with deepening soil layer, and the AP in traditional rotation was significantly higher than that in garden land. The trend of SP was opposite to that of AP. The difference of MP and TP in different land use patterns was small. Among the four land use patterns, the ratio of AP to TP and SP to TP in the lower layer of rice-vegetable rotation was higher than that in other patterns, while the ratio of AP to TP decreased significantly under different land use patterns at 20-40 cm. The change of SP to TP with the downward ratio of soil layer was opposite to that of AP to TP. Additionally, the ratio of MP to TP was relatively stable under different land use patterns. Therefore, different land use patterns exerted significant effects on the distribution of AP and SP in the soil profile of Chengdu Plain.