Influence of crop rotation, irrigation, fertilization, and tillage on the aggregate property and soil wind erosion potential in the floodplain of the Yellow River

The floodplain of the Yellow River (FPYR) is threatened by severe soil erosion. Soils are often susceptible to wind erosion owing to their coarse-textures and weak aggregation, yet studies are yet to describe the ability of soils to resist wind erosion in this region. Accordingly, this study aimed to quantify how soil wind erosion potential is affected by soil aggregate properties, such as dry aggregate geometric mean diameter (GMD), aggregate geometric standard deviation (GSD), aggregate stability, and soil bulk density, and to assess the effects of soil type, crop rotation, irrigation, fertilization, and tillage treatments on these aggregate properties in the main wind erosion area across the FPYR. Significant differences in GMD and aggregate stability were found between crop rotation treatments, whereas crop rotation marginally affected the soil bulk density. Further, the impact of management practices on aggregate properties differed for each soil type. The soil aggregate erodible fraction (EF) in the FPYR ranged from 1.14 to 82.73% across sites, with a mean of 26.14% across soil types and management practices, which was lower than that previously reported in other wind erosion regions. We incorporated these measured EFs into the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) to evaluate the wind erosion risk of the FPYR. The results indicated that the central FPYR was more susceptible to wind erosion than the other regions, although the total wind erosion potential in the FPYR was small. Adoption of soil conservation practices could help minimize wind erosion and improve atmospheric quality in the region.