Effects of vegetation restoration types on soil quality in Yuanmou dry-hot valley, China

Abstract Soil erosion has resulted in serious land degradation in Yuanmou dry-hot valley, Yunnan province, China. Vegetation restoration had been widely developed in this hot and arid area. In this work we investigate the quality of rhizosphere soils under four restoration species in the towns of Zuolin (gully bed) and Yuanma (slope area). The vegetation included two trees [Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit. and Eucalyptus camaldulensis L.] for the slope area, one shrubland [Dodonaea viscosa (Linn.) Jacq. Enum.] and one native, natural grassland [Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv.] for gully bed. Soil physical (bulk density and soil moisture content), chemical [pH, soil organic matter, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) contents], and microbial (microbial biomass and microbe quantity) properties and soil enzyme (catalase, protease and urease) activities were determined. Compared to the soils collected from other vegetation types, the soil under Leucaena leucocephala had the highest content of...