IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/caa/jnlpse/v56y2010i2id155-2009-pse.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China

Author

Listed:
  • X.B. Liu

    (Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China)

  • X.Y. Zhang

    (Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China)

  • Y.X. Wang

    (Heilongjiang Institute of Water and Soil Conservation, Harbin, P.R. China)

  • Y.Y. Sui

    (Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China)

  • S.L. Zhang

    (Laboratory of Black Soil Ecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, P.R. China)

  • S.J. Herbert

    (Center for Agriculture, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA)

  • G. Ding

    (Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, USA)

Abstract

Soil degradation that results from erosion, losses of organic matter and nutrients, or soil compaction are of great concern in every agricultural region of the world. The control of soil erosion and loss of organic matter has been proposed as critical to agricultural and environmental sustainability of Northeast China. This region is bread basket of China where the fertile and productive soils, Mollisols (also called Black soils), are primarily distributed. In this paper, we introduce the importance of Northeast China's grain production to China, and describe the changes of sown acreage and grain production in past decades. This paper also summarizes the distribution, area and intensity of water erosion, changes in the number of gullies and gully density, thickness of top soil layer, soil organic matter content, bulk density, field water holding capacity, and infiltration rates; the number of soil microorganism and main enzyme activities from soil erosion in the region are also summarized. The moderately and severely water-eroded area accounted for 31.4% and 7.9% of the total, and annual declining rate is 1.8%. Erosion rate is 1.24-2.41 mm/year, and soil loss in 1°, 5° and 15° sloping farmlands is 3 t/ha/year, 78 t/ha/year and 220.5 t/ha/year, respectively. SOC content of uncultivated soil was nearly twice that of soil with a 50-year cultivation history, and the average annual declining rate of soil organic matter was 0.5%. Proper adoption of crop rotation can increase or maintain the quantity and quality of soil organic matter, and improve soil chemical and physical properties. Proposed strategies for erosion control, in particular how tillage management, terraces and strip cultivation, or soil amendments contribute to maintain or restore the productivity of severely eroded farmland, are discussed in the context of agricultural sustainability with an emphasis on the Chinese Mollisols.

Suggested Citation

  • X.B. Liu & X.Y. Zhang & Y.X. Wang & Y.Y. Sui & S.L. Zhang & S.J. Herbert & G. Ding, 2010. "Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 56(2), pages 87-97.
  • Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:155-2009-pse
    DOI: 10.17221/155/2009-PSE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/155/2009-PSE.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge

    File URL: http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/155/2009-PSE.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17221/155/2009-PSE?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuesong Zhan & Shuqi Xin & Chaofeng Shao & Feng Yang & Yuhan Long, 2023. "Study of the Spatio-Temporal Variation of Agricultural Sustainability at National and Provincial Levels in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Cuilan LI & Shuqing GAO & Jinjing ZHANG & Lanpo ZHAO & Lichun WANG, 2016. "Moisture effect on soil humus characteristics in a laboratory incubation experiment," Soil and Water Research, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 37-43.
    3. Ž. Videnović & M. Simić & J. Srdić & Z. Dumanović, 2011. "Long term effects of different soil tillage systems on maize (Zea mays L.) yields," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 57(4), pages 186-192.
    4. J.J. Zhang & H. Li & H.J. Gao & P. Zhu & Q. Gao & L.C. Wang, 2014. "Effects of long-term fertilization and cropping regimes on total nitrogen and organic nitrogen forms in a Mollisol of Northeast China," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 60(12), pages 544-549.
    5. Hao Li & Wenjing Zhao & Jing Wang & Xiaozhe Geng & Chunyu Song, 2024. "Evaluating the Accuracy of Contour Ridgeline Positioning for Soil Conservation in the Northeast Black Soil Region of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Zhang, Yang & Zhang, Yan & Gao, Yan & McLaughlin, Neil B. & Huang, Dandan & Wang, Yang & Chen, Xuewen & Zhang, Shixiu & Liang, Aizhen, 2024. "Effects of tillage practices on environment, energy, and economy of maize production in Northeast China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    7. Biljana Balabanova & Liping Fan, 2024. "Lead And Strontium Isotope Evidence For Local Herbal Varieties Due To The Elemental Soil Chemistry," International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research, Malwa International Journals Publication, vol. 10(02), April.
    8. Melese Baye Hailu & S. K. Mishra & Sanjay K. Jain, 2024. "Sediment yield modelling and prioritization of erosion-prone sub-basins in the Tekeze watershed, Ethiopia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 19855-19870, August.
    9. X.W. Chen & A.Z. Liang & S.X. Jia & X.P. Zhang & S.C. Wei, 2014. "Impact of tillage on physical characteristics in a Mollisol of Northeast China," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 60(7), pages 309-313.
    10. Futao Zhang & Yunfa Qiao & Xiaozeng Han & Bin Zhang, 2021. "Variation of soil organic matter depends on light-fraction organic matter under long-term monocropping of different crops," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 67(10), pages 588-599.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:2:id:155-2009-pse. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ivo Andrle (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cazv.cz/en/home/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.