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Mapping Key Soil Properties of Cropland in a Mountainous Region of Southwestern China

Authors :
Baocai Su
Rui Liu
Zhenzong Lu
Yue Hong
Naijie Chang
Ye Wang
Zhenwei Song
Runzhi Li
Source :
Agronomy, Vol 14, Iss 7, p 1417 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total potassium (TK) are important indicators for evaluating soil fertility. Exploring the content and spatial distribution of these indicators is of great significance for optimizing cropland management measures and developing sustainable agriculture. Yunnan Province is one of the most important agricultural regions in southwestern China, characterized by large variations in the topography and an uneven distribution of soil fertility. In this study, the data of 8571 topsoil (0–20 cm) samples selected from Yunnan Province and a portion of related spatial data were used to carry out electronic mapping of the spatial distribution of soil sand content, clay content, silt content, SOC, TN, TP, TK content, and C:N ratio at 1 km resolution using the Random Forest (RF) model. The results indicated that the average measured contents of SOC, TN, TP, TK, and C:N ratio in the topsoil of Yunnan Province were 18.78 ± 0.09 g/kg, 1.78 ± 0.01 g/kg, 0.98 ± 0.01 g/kg, 13.89 ± 0.08 g/kg, and 10.56 ± 0.02, respectively. The spatial analysis showed that higher SOC was mainly distributed in northern and eastern Yunnan, and the spatial distribution pattern of TN and TP was similar to that of SOC. While higher TK was mainly distributed in southwestern Yunnan Province. There was a significant positive correlation between SOC and TN and TP contents with correlation coefficients of 0.889 and 0.463, however, there was a significant negative correlation between SOC and TK content with correlation coefficients of −0.060. It was also indicated that elevation, temperature, precipitation, clay content, sand content, and silt content were the most important factors affecting SOC, TN, TP, and TK content. The present study provided an understanding of soil nutrients characteristics and their affecting factors, which is helpful to optimize agricultural management practices and develop sustainable agriculture according to soil fertility.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734395
Volume :
14
Issue :
7
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Agronomy
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.34b487607df142b78c23e3f5e7345bd0
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071417