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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (20): 78-83.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2023-0659

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Study on Micro-stratification of Soil Properties in Weak Structure Topsoil under Hydroponic Tillage Condition

WANG Ze1(), ZHANG Lijun2, ZHU Jie1(), ZHANG Mingkui3   

  1. 1 Wenzhou Plant Protection and Soil Fertilizer Management Station, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000
    2 Pingyang County Agricultural Development and Agricultural Technology Guidance Station, Pingyang, Zhejiang 325400
    3 College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058
  • Received:2023-09-11 Revised:2024-01-03 Online:2024-07-11 Published:2024-07-11

Abstract:

Due to the selective settlement of soil particles, hydroponic tillage in weakly structured farmland soil can lead to the difference in material composition between the upper and lower parts of the cultivated layer. To understand whether this difference will result in the differentiation of soil properties, this paper selected representative farmlands, compared and analyzed the differences in soil properties between the upper and lower parts of the tillage layer under the hydroponic and dry tillage, and also compared them with the well-developed structure soil. The results showed that there were significant differences in particle composition, organic matter, total nitrogen content, CEC, available phosphorus, available potassium, microbial biomass carbon and the contents of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb between the upper and lower soils of the weak structure farmland subjected to long-term hydroponic tillage condition. The coarse particles (gravel and sand) increased from top to bottom, while the fine particles (clay) decreased from top to bottom. From 0-2 cm soil layer to 18-20 cm soil layer, soil organic matter, total nitrogen and CEC decreased by 49.77%, 48.77% and 38.25%, respectively, and soil available phosphorus, available potassium and microbial biomass carbon decreased by 21.23%, 13.54% and 29.24%, respectively. From 0-4 cm soil layer to 16-20 cm soil layer, the contents of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb decreased from 27.43-28.33, 65.45-71.43, 0.13-0.15 and 24.73-27.65 mg/kg to 23.74-24.32, 53.66-54.54, 0.053-0.067 and 18.78-19.54 mg/kg, respectively. However, the change in soil pH was not obvious. Long term hydroponic tillage in well structured farmland had little or no effect on the above characters. The contents of organic matter, total nitrogen, CEC, available nutrients, microbial biomass carbon, Zn and Pb in the soil tillage layer under long-term dry tillage also decreased with depth, but the difference between the top and bottom was small, and the tillage had no significant effect on the distribution of particle composition, pH, Cu and Cd in the tillage layer of well structured soil. The study suggested that long-term hydroponics tillage could lead to the micro-stratification of soil properties in the weak structure tillage layer, lead to material heterogeneity, affecting the absorption of soil nutrients by crops. Attention should be paid to the improvement of structure for the weak structure tillage layer.

Key words: hydroponics, weak structure topsoil, particle composition, micro stratification, differentiation