Revegetation as an efficient means of increasing soil aggregate stability on the Loess Plateau (China)

Soil aggregate stability influences several aspects of soil physical behavior, such as water infiltration and soil erosion (Amézketa, 1999). We investigated the soil aggregate stability characteristics in the framework of the ‘Grain for Green’ vegetation rehabilitation project at the Loess Plateau (China) by using the Le Bissonnais (1996) and the modified Yoder (1936) methods. Both non-grazed grassland and afforestation revegetations were considered. The size distribution mode was always >2mm for the fast wetting test (FW) in the non-grazed grassland communities. This fraction accounted for approximately 40% to 80% of the total soil weight. The wet stirring (WS) test showed a distribution similar to that determined by the FW test. For the slow wetting (SW) test, 80% or more of the non-grazed grassland soil fragments was >2mm. The mean weighted diameter (MWD) that was determined by the Le Bissonnais' method was different among the tests and land uses. For the FW test, all the plant communities were significantly different from that of the recently abandoned grazing on grassland at the 0–20 and 20–40cm depths. In the Artemisia sacrorum community, the maximum MWD was approximately 3mm for the 0–20cm depth. There were no significant differences among the plant communities after 3years of afforestation and 7years of non-grazing of the grassland. The MWDs were lower in the afforestation area than in the non-grazed grassland area. The maximum MWD value from the FW test was approximately 1.8mm and was significantly lower (