Agricultural Activities Increased Soil Organic Carbon in Shiyang River Basin, a typical inland river basin in China

Oasis agriculture is one of the main forms of agriculture in the world. Studying the impact of agricultural practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) within oases can provide valuable insights into the dynamics of carbon input and sequestration in oasis agriculture. It can contribute to the development of well-reasoned agricultural policies. This work took the farmland in a typical inland river basin, Shiyang River Basin, of arid areas as the research object and compared the impact of the leading agricultural activities on the SOC. Samples were collected and their SOC content was determined in the laboratory. This work believes that: (1) In the same inland river basin, the organic carbon of farmland in the upper and middle reaches is significantly higher than that in the lower reaches, and the farmland in the core area of the oasis is higher than that in the marginal area; (2) The SOC content of farmland in the inland river basin is higher than that of woodland and grassland, and agricultural reclamation increases the SOC content in the inland river basin; (3) The abandonment of cultivated land leads to a decrease in SOC, and plastic film mulching has no obvious effect on the content of SOC. The research has clarified the impact of agricultural activities on SOC in arid oasis areas, and quantified the impact of different agricultural activities on SOC. The research can provide new references for understanding the impact of agriculture in arid regions on carbon cycling.