Present situation of soil nutrients in bayberry orchard of China

【Objective】Soil nutrients in orchard is the basis for stable and high fruit yield. The soil nutri-ent content of orchard is the basis for fertilization and ensuring the yield and fruit quality of orchards.【Methods】Investigations of soil nutrient condition,soil medium and micro-element content of bayberryorchard in 8 southern provinces,which are Zhejiang,Fujian,Guangdong,Guangxi,Jiangsu,Jiangxi,Yunnan and Chongqing,were carried out in this paper.【Results】The results showed that soil p H value inbayberry orchard in 8 provinces was overall acidic;soil organic matter and available potassium was lowerand available potassium was much lower in Fujian,Jiangsu and Yunnan with the maximum of less than50 mg·kg-1;available phosphorus,total nitrogen and total phosphorus as well as total potassium contentwas overall appropriate,but there were significant differences among different provinces. The p H valuewas 4.95 on average and the range of measurement was 3.87-8.15;the value of soil organic matter on av-erage was 19.47 g·kg-1and the range of measurement was 5.421-35.83 g·kg-1;the value of soil availablephosphorus on average was 24.65 mg·kg-1and the range of measurement was 1.271-67.36 mg·kg-1;the value of soil available potassium on average was 62.0 mg·kg-1and the range of measurement was 29-182mg·kg- 1;the value of total nitrogen was 1.248 g·kg- 1on average and the range of measurement was0.191- 3.368 g·kg-1;the total phosphorus value was 0.258 g·kg-1on average and the range of measure-ment was 0.068-0.989 g·kg- 1;the total potassium value was 32.78 g·kg- 1on average and the range ofmeasurement was 5.831-62.55 g·kg-1. In addition,soil medium and micro-element contents in bayberryorchard were generally appropriate,and in some few regions the contents were poor. However,some sam-ples also showed that the levels of copper and zinc were excessive.【Conclusion】The results suggestedthat some measures should be taken to improve soil organic matter content,apply potassium fertilizer,control nitrogen fertilizer,reduce phosphate fertilizer,and increase in micro-nutrient fertilizer and spe-cific fertilizers for bayberry.