Analysis on the Growth of Shelterbelt Plants Growing under Different Local Conditions

In this paper, the project of ecological shelterbelt construction along the Tarim Desert Highway passing through the Taklimakan Desert is researched. The Taklimakan Desert is located in the Tarim Basin in south Xinjiang, China, and its area is about 3.33×10~5 km~2. According to the meteorological data observed by Tazhong Meteorological Station, the annual air temperature and the extremely maximum temperature are (12.4 ℃) and 45.6 ℃ respectively, the annual precipitation varies in a range of 11～40 mm only, strong winds occur frequently, and the annual average wind speed and instantaneous maximum wind speed are 2.5 m/s and 20.0 m/s respectively. The elevation of the basin varies in a range of 800～1 300 m a.s.l., and the Taklimakan Desert is basically covered by mobile dunes and dune-chains varying in height from several meters to several hundred meters. In order to guarantee the unblocked traffic of the Tarim Desert Highway 522 km in length and improve the ecological environment along the highway, the "Project of Ecological Shelterbelts along the Tarim Desert Highway" is started by investing 2.2×10~8 yuan. In this paper, the growth of the shelterbelt plants under the different local conditions along the Tarim Desert Highway is analyzed based on the 6-year monitoring data of main sand-fixing plants planted along the demonstration sections of the ecological shelterbelts along the highway by using SPSS software. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The sand-fixing plants can grow best on sand sheets where a clay layer underlies, there is a correlation between the growing mass of plants and the growing time, and the rapid growing period of plants is for 3～5 years; (2) The growth of sand-fixing plants growing on sandlands is inferior than that on clay lands, and the rapid growing period of plants is also for 3～5 years; (3) The growth of sand-fixing plants growing on the top of dune-chains is the poorest, the interannual fluctuation of the growth curves of plants is high, and the rapid growing period of plants is for 1～3 years.