Soft rock increases the colloid content and crop yield in sandy soil

Abstract

AbstractDesertification is reducing the amount of land available to produce food in semi arid and arid regions worldwide. Management techniques to reduce this problem are needed. This paper investigated if the addition of soft rocks to sandy soils would improve soil resilience and productivity. The model system selected for this study was located in Mu Us, China. Soft rocks are defined as a loose rock layer. Collected soft rock and sand from the same study area were compounded in the volume ratios of 0:1 (CK), 1:5 (C1), 1:2 (C2), and 1:1 (C3). The results revealed that the average content of soil organic carbon (SOC) with increasing soil depth and was 3.11 g kg−1 in the 20 to 30 cm soil depth. The highest average content of particulate organic carbon (POC) was observed in the 10‐20 cm soil layer (2.72 g kg−1). In the 10 to 20 cm soil depth, the polysaccharide content was the highest (125.3 and 119.08 μg g−1) in the C1 and C2 treatments. However, in all soil layers the C2 treatment had the highest (0.11 g kg−1) content of calcium carbonate. Compared with the CK treatment, the addition of soft rock increased of corn yield, the C2 treatment had the largest increase (65.46%). The corn yield showed a significantly positive correlation with polysaccharides at 10–20 cm. The overall results showed that soft rock o sand ratio of 1:2 could increase the crops yield, which was of great significance to the sustainable development of agriculture in the sand area.