Vegetation Restoration Through Laying Cornstalks on a Bare Sodic Patch in Songnen Plain

Grassland salinization and sodification has become a global concerning issue in recent years. Many bare sodic patches have appeared after grassland degeneration caused by soil salinization in Songnen plain, which inhibits growth and development of forage grass. In order to searching for an effective method to restore vegetation on sodic patches, a 3-year study was carried out to test whether laying cornstalks could promote vegetation restoration on bare sodic patches. The study contained 3 cornstalk amount, namely, 1 (T1), 2 (T2) and 3 (T3), and 4 directions, namely, east-west (EW), south-north (SN), northeast-southwest (NESW), southeast-northwest (SENW), respectively. Compared with spot without cornstalk laying (CK), soil organic carbon (SOC) was not significantly altered by cornstalk (p>0.05). EC in 2013 and pH in 2014 showed significantly (p<0.05) decrease compared with CK for all the 3 treatments, but no significant differences (p>0.05) were observed among T1, T2 and T3. Application of cornstalks promoted vegetation restoration than CK in the 3 years, but amount and direction of cornstalk didn't have significant effect on the indices (above ground biomass, community height, community coverage and specie number) except for community coverage in 2013 (p>0.05) when CK was excluded. Average above ground biomass, community height and specie number presented highly variability among years. Laying cornstalk is effective in revegetation on bare sodic patches, regardless of laying amount and direction.