Abstract:
Objective The aims were to investigate the characteristics of soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions and reserves in salinized grassland under grazing and nitrogen (N) addition and their influencing factors, which was of great significance to the sustainable development of salinized grassland ecosystems.
Method In the salinized grassland of Hexi Corridor, four treatments were set up, namely, control (CK), N addition (IN), grazing (FCK) and grazing + N addition (FIN), to carry out the grazing (the intensity of grazing was moderate, and the grazing was rotated once in every 10 d from June to the middle of September for a total of 90 d) and the located simulation test of addition (137.21 g of ammonium nitrate was weighed and dissolved in 10 L of water and sprayed uniformly with spraying pots from the beginning of May to the beginning of September). The experiment was conducted to observe the SOC fraction, carbon (C) stock and other basic soil property indices in 0-40 cm soil, and to explore the effects of grazing and N addition on SOC fraction and its content in salinized grassland.
Results ① Nitrogen addition significantly increased dissolved organic C (DOC) content, and soil pH and microbial biomass C (MBC) content significantly decreased (P < 0.05). ② Grazing significantly increased (P < 0.05) soil DOC and MBC contents. ③ Grazing + N addition significantly increased soil C pool management index (CPMI) and soil pH significantly decreased (P < 0.05). ④ SOC was significantly and positively correlated with above-ground biomass (AB), and C stock (M) was significantly and positively correlated with soil bulk density (BD) and AB, respectively (P < 0.05).
Conclusion Grazing and N addition could significantly affect the stability of SOC pools as well as the content and distribution of reactive organic C, and the DOC and MBC contents as well as CPMI could sensitively reflect the soil C pools' DOC. MBC content and CPMI could sensitively reflect the changes in soil C pools, and could be used as effective indicators to evaluate the changes in SOC in salinized grassland caused by grazing and N addition.