SCHRIFTENREIHE Institut für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde ...

Chapter 2 Spatial variability of soil properties affected by grazing intensity in Inner Mongolia grassland
Table 2.1. Descriptive statistics of soil water content measured on three sampling soil water
statuses in 2004.
Treatment
Sampling soil
Water
statuses
Min. Max. Mean SD CV Skewness Kurtosis
UG 79 Dry 0.03 0.09 0.06 0.01 20.00 0 -0.11
Wet 0.24 0.37 0.30 0.03 9.00 0.16 -0.45
Medium 0.10 0.24 0.17 0.03 17.75 0.23 -0.28
UG 99 Dry 0.04 0.10 0.07 0.02 21.43 -0.04 -0.07
Wet 0.31 0.40 0.36 0.02 6.39 -0.13 -0.79
Medium 0.12 0.31 0.22 0.03 12.73 -0.04 0.43
WG Dry 0.02 0.07 0.04 0.01 23.75 0.16 0.52
Wet 0.29 0.38 0.34 0.02 5.29 -0.09 -0.50
Medium 0.15 0.23 0.19 0.02 9.47 -0.02 -0.28
CG Dry 0.02 0.08 0.05 0.01 22.22 0.55 1.27
Wet 0.29 0.38 0.34 0.02 5.33 -0.10 -0.46
Medium 0.12 0.24 0.19 0.03 13.30 -0.05 -0.32
HG Dry - - - - - - -
Wet 0.21 0.34 0.28 0.03 10.79 -0.02 -0.45
Medium 0.07 0.21 0.13 0.03 20.54 0.59 0.74
Min.: Minimum (cm 3 cm -3 ); Max.: Maximum (cm 3 cm -3 ); SD: Standard deviation (cm 3 cm -3 ); CV:
Coefficient of variation (%); -: No data available.
changes of WDPT for the three water statuses. Generally, with increasing water
status the mean WDPT decreased. But WDPT was the highest during the
medium moisture (Sept, 12), which might be due to more litter accumulation or
decomposition corresponding with the late season of growth. WDPT was higher
in the ungrazed plots showing a slight to strong water repellency than in the
grazed plots where the soil was wettable to slight water repellency. The
micro-relief of plant surface covered soil surface as a cuticle, which was
composed of soluble, hydrophobic lipids embedded in a polyester matrix, often
induces effective water repellency (Holloway, 1994; Dekker and Ritsema, 2000).
Because of protection from grazing for 25 years in UG 79 and for 5 years in UG
99, much accumulation of organic matter with hydrophobic components on the
soil surface could have led to the observed relative strong water repellency.
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