Influence of land use change on soil nutrients in an intensive agricultural region of North China

The pressures of development and major shifts in land use have increased the need to assess the impact of land use change on soil nutrients. This study was conducted in an area with intensive agricultural land use in north China to assess effects of land use change on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK). Soil samples were collected from rainfed land, irrigated land, virgin grassland and vegetable land in 1980 and 1999. SOC, TN and AP were higher in 1999 than in 1980, and the increases followed the following order: vegetable land > irrigated land > rainfed land, except for AK. Soil nutrient contents were increased when land uses underwent the following changes (except for AK): virgin grassland → rainfed land → irrigated farmland → vegetable land. The SOC, TN and AP fluxes (rate of change in C, N, P and K as kg(ha y)−1) in the transition systems from rainfed land to vegetable land were 518.46, 69 and 3.9 kg(ha y)−1, respectively, which were considerably higher than the transition systems from rainfed land to irrigated land. The SOC, TN and AP fluxes in the transition systems from virgin grassland to irrigated land were 297.83, 56.3, 2.1 kg(ha y)−1, respectively, which were higher than the transition systems from virgin grassland to rainfed land. The study shows that land use intensification can increase soil nutrient contents if accompanied by increased fertilizer application.