For comprehensive understanding

effective managing and protecting the saline-alkali soil of Luyang Lake in Weinan City

Shannxi Province

the authors analyzed the physical properties and salinity characteristics in the region. The principal component analysis combined with norm values were employed to select the indexes and establish the minimum data set

in which

organic matter

alkali-hydrolysable N

available P

available K

ESP

CEC

conductivity

and soil bulk density were selected as indexes for evalulating soil quality. The results showed that the soil texture was relatively heavy with more clay. The values of membership functions of the indexes revealed that organic matter(0.31)

alkali-hydrolysable N(0.39)

available P(0.26)

and available K(0.38) were the major limited soil nutrients factors in the region. The membership degrees of soil bulk density

CEC and ESP were 1

0.64 and 0.61

respectively

it indicated that the soil was compacted

but the alkaline was very extremely high. In short

the comprehensive index was 0.277 calculated by using the weighted index summation method to evalulate the soil fertility

which illustrated that the soil fertility in this region was at a low level. Therefore

it need to take appropriate improvement measures to improve soil fertility in Luyang Lake region.