Changes
in Soil Carbon Fractions and Enzyme Activities Under Different
Vegetation Types of the Northern Loess Plateau
Jiangqi Wu1 and Haiyan Wang1, Guang
Li1,* Lijuan Yan2
1College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University,
Lanzhou, 730070, China.
2College of Agriculture, Gansu Agricultural
University, Lanzhou,730070,China.
*Correspondence: liggsau@foxmail.com.
Abstract: Vegetation
restoration can not only preserve soil and water and reduce soil
erosion, but also improve soil properties and quality significantly.
However, different vegetation types have different effects on
soil
organic carbon fractions and enzyme activities. In this study, we
examined the response of soil organic carbon fractions and enzyme
activities to different types of vegetation (i.e., Xanthoceras
sorbifolia (XS), Hippophae rhamnoides (HR), Caragana
korshinskii (CK), Grassland (GL)) on the northern Loess Plateau. The
contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC),
easily oxidized carbon (EOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) and
the enzyme activities (i.e., amylase, catalase, urease and surase) were
investigated at the end of plant growth. We found that the content of
soil SOC fractions and enzyme activities upper > lower
layer in each vegetation types except for MBC and catalase activity.
There was no significant difference in MBC content and catalase activity
between soil layers. The EOC and amylase of GL vegetation were
significantly higher than other vegetation types. POC, SOC, urease and
sucrase were significantly higher in SX vegetation than other vegetation
types. The maximum soil MBC content was found in HR vegetation, and
among the four vegetation types, the MBC content showed significant
differences in lower layer, but no significant difference in the surface
soil. Correlation analysis showed that the MBC significant influenced on
the catalase activities; POC significant affected urease and sucrase
activities; SOC extremely significant influenced on the urease and
sucrase activities. Therefore, vegetation type was an important factor
affecting the change of soil enzyme activities and carbon fractions on
the Loess Plateau.
Keywords:Vegetation
types; Soil organic carbon components; Enzyme Activities; Loess Plateau