Spatial variation of soil functions affected by land use type and slope position in agricultural small watershed

Effect of straw incorporation on controlling runoff and soil erosion in cropland with different land degradation degrees

“…Soil erosion resulting from irrational and intensive land use is not only one of the most serious global environmental problems, but also a key cause of land degradation and productivity reduction (Borrelli et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2022, 2023; Wang & Zhang, 2017), which directly threaten regional or national agricultural sustainability and food security (Basic et al, 2004; Han et al, 2020; Li et al, 2018; Vizioli et al, 2021). In recent decades, approximately 80% of global agricultural land has suffered from moderate to severe erosion, induced by the rapid growth of population and enormous pressure on productive soil resources, resulting in an annual soil loss of 36–75 billion tones (Borrelli et al, 2017; Rajbanshi et al, 2022).…”

“…Some of the previous studies demonstrated that RR and ER can be altered by differences in soil texture, structure, and nutrients as well as even microbial activity under the same straw return treatment (Abrantes et al, 2018; Fu et al, 2022; Yang et al, 2021). Land degradation is widely known to strongly alter the physical, chemical, and microbial properties of soils (Li et al, 2021; Luo et al, 2022; Ma et al, 2022; Wang et al, 2023), which inevitably affects the decomposition of incorporated straw to potentially diminish the effects of straw return on reducing runoff and erosion (Li et al, 2018). Potential effects depend on land degradation intensity or degree since it directly affects soil physicochemical and microbial properties and their interactions (Breg Valjavec et al, 2018; Hu et al, 2023; Mandal et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2022).…”

“…As the typical agriculture region in the world, croplands of the Chinese black soil region are incurring serious soil erosion caused by immoderate agricultural utilization and defective land management since the 1950s (Hu et al, 2016; Shen et al, 2018; Wang et al, 2023). Consequently, the land is strongly degraded, mainly reflected by the decrease in topsoil thickness, soil structure deterioration, reduction in organic matter content of the black soil layer, and the increase in soil hardness (Li et al, 2021; Wang et al, 2023; Yang et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2022). To mitigate land degradation, conservation measures represented by straw cover are widely applied to control serious soil erosion and maintain land productivity (Li et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2012).…”

“…As the typical agriculture region in the world, croplands of the Chinese black soil region are incurring serious soil erosion caused by immoderate agricultural utilization and defective land management since the 1950s (Hu et al, 2016;Shen et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2023).…”

“…Consequently, the land is strongly degraded, mainly reflected by the decrease in topsoil thickness, soil structure deterioration, reduction in organic matter content of the black soil layer, and the increase in soil hardness Wang et al, 2023;Yang et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2022). To mitigate land degradation, conservation measures represented by straw cover are widely applied to control serious soil erosion and maintain land productivity (Li et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2012).…”