Land use and management practices greatly impact the direction and degree of
soil quality changes in time and space.The selection and application of different comprehensive assessment methods are important.The comparison of them can reveal the difference and advantage of different methods.A study was initiated in the Wolong nature reserve,Sichuan province,China to elucidate the soil quality changes of natural
secondary succession,forest planting and agricultural practices after deforestation in the humid mountainous region.The soil qualities of six
Land use types(natural
forestland,grassland,shrubs land,secondary forestland,cultivated land and reforested land)were compared using two
quantitative methods:the integrated soil quality index(QI)and
soil deterioration index(DI).Both of the results showed that the cultivated land,grassland and reforested land had the lower values,while the shrubs land and secondary forestland had higher values.To compare the two methods more directly,a deduced index QI' based on QI value was developed.The results showed that DI and QI' had a very high linear correlation coefficient.Both methods were efficient in evaluation the
Soil quality levels and DI was a more simple way in soil quality assessment,while QI could show more ecological meaning.
More abstracts about the COMPARISON OF TWO QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN ASSESSING SOIL QUALITY IN DIFFERENT LAND USES