Intensive farming in China depletes soil nutrients, threatens agricultural sustainability.
The study looked at how different types of farmland in Qingzhou County, China, affect soil nutrients. They found that the type of land use has a big impact on the levels of organic matter, nutrients, salt, and pH in the soil. Vegetable land had higher nutrient levels due to fertilizer use, while grain cropland had lower salt content and higher pH. Different types of land had varying levels of nutrients, with dry land, irrigable land, and open-air vegetable land showing the most variation in available phosphorus. Overall, the type of land use had a bigger effect on macronutrients than on secondary and micronutrients.