Spatial variability of soil organic matter and total nitrogen and the influencing factors in Huzhu County of Qinghai Province, China

Abstract

The soil organic matter (SOM) and soil total nitrogen (STN) is a significant concern in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China. This study analysed the spatial distribution of SOM and STN and determined their influencing factors to support the conservation of cultivated soil and development of sustainable agricultural strategies in the Plateau. In total, 120 soil samples were collected from the 0–20-cm soil layer in Huzhu County, Qinghai Province. Traditional statistical and geostatistical methods were used to analyse the spatial distribution of SOM and STN; a geographical detector (GeoDetector)was used to explore the factors influencing the spatial variation. The SOM and STN concentrations were 6.92–44.57 and 0.52–2.54 g/kg, respectively. The Cokriging interpolation map showed a similar spatial distribution pattern for SOM and STN concentrations, which decreased from the northeast to southwest directions in the study area. GeoDetector results revealed that the three primary factors influencing the spatial variability of SOM and STN were soil type, annual accumulated precipitation and elevation, with their explanatory power ranging between 38.4% and 59.5%. Two-factor interactions enhanced the explanatory power of the spatial variability of SOM and STN. The research results provide a reference for conservation tillage and precision agriculture.

Description

The Version of Scholarly Record of this Article is published in Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 2022, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09064710.2021.2023624 . © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Keywords: Qinghai–Tibet Plateau; soil organic matter; soil total nitrogen; spatial variability; geodetector; influencing factor; Asia; China; alpine; continental climate.

Keywords

Citation

Bicheng Zhang, Lele Niu, Tianzhong Jia, Xiaohua Yu & Diao She (2022) Spatial variability of soil organic matter and total nitrogen and the influencing factors in Huzhu County of Qinghai Province, China, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 72:1, 576-588, DOI: 10.1080/09064710.2021.2023624

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