Author(s)

Xiangzhen Kong^1,2, Yansong Xiao^3*, Qinyi Zhi⁴, Yahua Liao⁵, Bin He³, Hong Jian³, Juan Li³, Zhihui Cao³, Sijun Li³, Decheng Li¹

¹Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.
²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³Chenzhou Tobacco Company of Hunan Province, Chenzhou, China.
⁴Hunan Tobacco Leaf Redrying Co. Ltd., Chenzhou, China.
⁵Hunan Provincial Company of CNTC, Changsha, China.

Tobacco-planting plays an important role in ensuring the high-quality tobacco raw materials supply and the local social and economic development in Chenzhou City. In recent years whether tobacco-planting is better for the maintenance and improvement of soil fertility than other crop-planting has been highly concerned. In this study, 16 soil fertility indicators and soil integrated index (IFI) were compared by 21 pairs of fields in Chenzhou city under the rotations of tobacco-rice (TF) and rice-rice (RR), and results showed that, comparing the mean values of soil fertility indicators, the contents of OM, TN, AN, AK, S and IFI were extremely significantly higher in TR than those in RR (p < 0.01), the contents of Cu, Ca, Mg and Fe were significantly higher in TR than those in RR (p < 0.05), but Mn content was significantly lower in TR than those in RR (p < 0.05). Meanwhile the contents of TP, TK and AP were insignificantly higher in TR than those in RR, and the contents of B, Mo and Zn were insignificantly lower in TR than those in RR. The above significant differences in soil fertility indicators were mainly due to relatively higher fertilizer inputs and less nutrient removal during tobacco-growing season than during rape-growing season, the net increase of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O are 8.61, 5.25 and 24.89 kg per 667 m² respectively in tobacco-growing season, while the net decrease of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O are 8.88, 4.70 and 4.62 kg per 667 m² respectively in rape-growing season. C.V. of soil fertility indicators and IFI were meanly lower in TR (52.25% and 15.95%, respectively) than those in RR (63.07% and 22.12%, respectively). Comparatively, tobacco-planting can improve soil fertility better than rape-planting when rotated with late rice in Chenzhou city. For tobacco-planting, Mg fertilizer should be applied for 23.8% TR fields, while more N, K, Ca, Mg, S and B fertilizers should be applied for 42.86%, 23.81%, 14.29%, 47.62%, 80.95% and 47.62% RR fields, respectively.

Comparison, Soil Fertility Indicator, Soil Integrated Index, Tobacco-Rice Rotation (TR), Rape-Rice Rotation (RR), Chenzhou

Kong, X. , Xiao, Y. , Zhi, Q. , Liao, Y. , He, B. , Jian, H. , Li, J. , Cao, Z. , Li, S. and Li, D. (2021) Soil Fertility Comparison between Rotations of Tobacco-Rice (TR) and Rape-Rice (RR). Agricultural Sciences, 12, 1527-1537. doi: 10.4236/as.2021.1212097.