Early fertilization and absorbent treatments continuously enhanced windbreak tree growth and soil properties in the Hetao Plain of Inner Mongolia, China

Intensive and continuous management has rarely been applied in forestation designed to combat desertification, except for a few instances of fertilization and irrigation in the early stage in northern China. We hypothesized that early and discontinuous fertilization and absorbent treatments would continuously increase tree growth and improve soil properties in an arid region. In 2003 and 2004, treatments of nitrogen fertilization and absorbents were applied to Populus alba var. pyramidalis trees in an experimental windbreak site in the Hetao Plain of Inner Mongolia, China. Nevertheless, the current study results have demonstrated that early and discontinuous nitrogen fertilization and absorbent treatments continuously increased tree growth (2003–2009) without any significant improvement in soil properties in 2010. The study results suggest that early and discontinuous fertilization and absorbent practices may be sufficiently effective in forestation aimed at combating desertification in arid lands where continuous maintenance cannot be expected.

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