Distribution of soil organic carbon and its relationship with soil physical and chemical properties on degraded alpine meadows

TLDR: In this article, the distribution of soil organic carbon and soil physical and chemical properties on degraded alpine meadows in Dangxiong,Tibet were determined to study the distribution and characteristics of degraded meadows.

Abstract: Soil organic carbon,soil active organic carbon,soil alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen,soil available phosphorus,soil available potassium,soil water content and soil bulk density were determined to study the distribution of soil organic carbon and soil physical and chemical properties on degraded alpine meadows in Dangxiong,TibetResults showed that the change orders of soil organic carbon content and its density both in the 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil layers were normal meadowslightly degraded meadowserious degraded meadow;soil organic carbon content and its density in the 0-10 cm soil layer were higher than those in the 10-20 cm soil layerThere were correlations between soil organic carbon and other soil nutrientsThe regression analysis showed that there were significantly positive linear relationships between soil organic carbon and soil active organic carbon(y=0074 3x-0026 1,R2=0913 9),soil alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen(y=2676 8 x+14425 0,R2=0977 1),soil available P(y=0245 9x+3347 9,R2=0931 4),soil available K(y=4296 5x+71667 0,R2=0665 3) and soil water content(y=0790 8x + 5424 5,R2=0715 6),respectivelyA significant negative linear correlation existed between soil organic carbon and soil bulk density(y=-0016 7x+1553 1,R2=0773 5)The loss of soil organic carbon resulted in reduction of soil nutrients and moisture and increasing soil bulk densityPath analysis indicated that the change of soil organic carbon had the most significant effect on the soil alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen