Effects of Different Vegetation Restoration Measures on Soil Health in Black Soil Region of Northeast China

To research the soil health of different vegetation restoration measures in black soil region of Northeast China, the 0-10cm soil layer with different vegetation restoration measures (pure larch forest and mixed forest) were selected to be the object of study in Binxian County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, China. The farmland were selected to be the control check (CK). The soil physical, chemical and biological indexes have been measured to determine the soil health of the soil with different vegetation restoration measures. The results showed that (i) in the 0-10cm soil layer, the soil bulk density of pure larch forest and mixed forest decreased significantly by 16% and 23%. The soil of the mixed forest has a lower soil bulk density and a higher soil water holding capacity and porosity. Compared with the soil of CK, the soil mean weight diameter of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 211.73% and 338.35%. The soil geometric mean diameter (GMD) of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 180.78% and 248.99%. (ii) The soil total carbon of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 39.98% and 43.98%. The soil total nitrogen of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 54.95% and 53.47%. The soil available K of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 26.88% and 133.67%. (iii) The soil microbial carbon (S-MC) of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 84.87% and 165.17%. The soil microbial nitrogen of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 10.80% and 62.32%. The Solid-Sucrase of pure larch forest and mixed forest were significantly increased by 45.79% and 73.68%. In general, there were significant differences in soil health among the soil with different vegetation restoration measures and CK. The mixed forest has the best restorative effects in the 0-10cm soil layer, which has the largest increase in GMD, available K and S-MC. The study would like to provide reference for the restoration of land and soil health evaluation in black soil region of Northeast China.