Land use and management practices greatly impact the direction and degree of soil quality change in time and space. However, the difference among land use might result from soil quality level. Our objective was to discuss the effects of land use on soil quality at small watershed-scale. 156 soil samples representing five land uses were studied in Zhifanggou watershed of loess hilly and gully region. The soil quality levels and the degradation extent were evaluated by means of the soil quality index (SQI) and soil degradation index (SDI). The results showed that the integrated indicator of soil quality indexes for average of two soil layers were forestland (0.382) shrub land (0.368)＞ farming-withdrawn grassland (0.332) natural grassland (0.325)＞ cropland (0.311) for ridge, forestland (0.426)＞natural grassland (0.422)＞ cropland (0.345) of gully slope land and forestland (0.415)＞ cropland (0.363) in gully bottom Iand. Soil quality of forestland, shrub land and grassland were better than that of cropland in the small watershed. 7 simple soil quality indicators screened out by factor analysis well reflected the information of 20 soil integrate assessment (r2=0.9089). There was a strong correlation between SQl and SDl in soil quality evaluation.
Soil quality Soil degradation Small watershed
Qingxin Liu Jinxin Zhang Faqi Wu Ping Meng Jinsong Zhang Haibin Liu Fei Wang Qi Lu
College of Resource and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;Research Insti College of Resource and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;Institute of D College of Resource and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yangling 712100, China Institute of Desertification, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China