Changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions of Xinjiang, China

Changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions of Xinjiang, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions of Xinjiang, China Xiang Wang, Yushan Yuan, Haiqiang Li, Zhenhua Wang, Xiaozhu Wu, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Aims Converting desert to oases agricultural land generally improved soil structure and local ecology and increased grain yield in arid and semi-arid regions. The present study aims to present how soil physical and hydraulic properties respond to the conversion from desert to oases agricultural land. Methods We compared soils between forest and farmland which were established in the same time in four typical regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu) of Xinjiang. Soil samples were collected from 0–50 cm soil depth to measure soil water content (SWC), bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), capillary porosity (CP) and non-capillary porosity (NCP), maximum water capacity (MWC), capillary water capacity (CWC), field capacity (FC) and wilting coefficient (WC), K s . Results SWC in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis, but BD, TP, K s , CP, NCP, MWC, CWC, FC and WC in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami, except for lower K s , MWC, CWC, FC and WC in forest of Hami and Kunyu. The difference in MWC, CWC, FC and WC were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in four typical regions. In addition, TP, K s , CP, MWC, CWC, FC and WC were significantly lower but BD and NCP was higher in forest and farmland of other regions, compared with ILi. Conclusions Conversion from desert to oases agricultural land, soil depth and their interaction significantly affected agroecosystem hydrological processes in oasis regions of Xinjiang, China. conversion form desert to oasis soil physical properties soil hydraulic properties forest farmland Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Highlights 1. Effects of converting desert to oasis on soil physical and hydraulic properties varied with different region in Xinjiang. 2. Soil from forest and farmland in ILi were prone to establishing oasis compared with other regions in Xinjiang. 3. The difference in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland were greater in 20–50 cm deep soils at the same region in Xinjiang. Introduction Conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is one of the most effective measures to improve the ecological environment, mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure food security in some arid and extremely arid regions (Korkanç, 2014 ; Lin et al, 2022 ). Since the 20th century, many natural desert have been changed into oasis agricultural land to improve the human living environment and increase crop planting area based on application of drip irrigation water-saving technology in Israel, Pakistan and China (Shang et al, 2019 ; Schackermann et al., 2022 ; Ullah et al., 2023 ). Previous studies showed that land-use conversion had pronounced effects on physical, biological or chemical properties of soil since it regulates the given farming management system, such as the irrigation and fertilization schedule, farming intensity and crop type, etc. (Barreto et al., 2009 ; Bronick and Lal, 2005 ; Del Galdo et al., 2003 ; Elliott, 1986 ; Lal, R., 1993 ; Li et al., 2019 a, 2020 and 2021a). Smith et al. ( 2016 ) demonstrated that converting forest or natural grassland to pasture or cropland could result in decreases of soil carbon and other nutrients and changes in above- and below-ground biodiversity due to removing surface biomass, changing vegetation type and frequently disturbing soils. However, abandonment of cropland can increase both above- and below-ground carbon and nutrients. Therefore, the characteristics of land use or land management could directly result in melioration or degradation of soil properties. Understanding changes in soil physic-hydraulic properties resulted from conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is imperative for assessing soil fertility, grain yield and local ecology in some arid and extremely arid oases regions. Soil physical and hydraulic properties significantly differed from forest, grassland and farmland in developed agricultural regions (Li et al., 2019 a and 2021a; Jabro et al., 2016 ; Villarreal et al., 2021 ; Guimarães et al., 2013 ; Anghinoni et al., 2017 ; Benedito et al., 2018; Burgos et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2021 ; Fu et al., 2022 ; Paltineanu et al, 2016 ; Rücknagel et al., 2016 ). Previous studies demonstrated that the reduction of vegetation cover could result in the deterioration of soil physical-hydraulic properties and further depletion of soil quality after conversion of forest and grassland to arable land (Buruso et al., 2023 ; Bewket and Stroosnijder, 2003 ; Ashagrie et al., 2007 ; Guimarães et al., 2013 ). For example, Bewket and Stroosnijder ( 2003 ) found that deforestation and conversion of forest land to arable land deteriorated soil physical and hydraulic properties in Ethiopia's Chemoga basin. Asmare et al. ( 2023 ) showed that, soil properties were degraded after the conversion of forest land to arable land, especially permeability, bulk density and porosity. Buraka et al. ( 2023 ) and Yu et al. ( 2023a ) showed that soil hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity and effective water content were significantly lower but bulk density was higher in cultivated land compared with forest land. Agricultural activities(i.e., frequent tillage and use of agricultural machinery) was main factor depleting soil properties and damaging soil structure, thus further adversely affecting soil quality (Kar et al., 2023 ; Guimarães et al., 2013 ; Newell-Price et al., 2013 ). Akinde et al. ( 2020 ) showed that tillage could frequently and directly damage soil structural unit integrity and therefore decrease soil permeability, porosity, saturated water conductivity and soil volume. Keller et al. ( 2019 ) illustrated that the historical increase in compaction levels has drastically decreased saturated hydraulic conductivity and water storage capacity of subsoils. However, Ovsepyan et al. ( 2020 ) found that the total enzyme activity increased by 5-fold and the share of C-cycle enzymes with ''narrower" substrate specificity (cellobiohydrolase and chitinase) increased due to the increase in the diversity and recalcitrance of organic compounds in the plant litter after the converting cropland to natural forest. Evidently, land use conversion could significantly result in changes in soil properties, soil structure and soil quality in developed agricultural regions. Therefore, it is urgently needed to understand how soil properties respond to the conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land. At present, many researches focused on the differences of soil physical properties and hydraulic properties between forest land and cultivated land, but the researches on soil quality in oasis agricultural area after desert transformation are relatively weak. Xinjiang, as a typical arid region in northwest China, has unique landform structure (i.e., three mountains and two basins) and landscape pattern (i.e., mountain, oasis and desert) with significant regional differences. Wu et al. ( 2024 ) showed that there were typical land use types in Xinjiang, that the main land use types are grassland, sparse grassland, cultivated land, shrubland, and forest land, accounting for 48.28% of the total area of Xinjiang, and ecological hydrological characteristics of inland river basins. The oasis subjected to the most intense human activities mainly distributed in the middle reaches of river, with most of cultivated land accounting for over 90% of the total water consumption in the basin (Wu et al., 2024 ). As well known, two famous desert (i.e., Gurbantonggut desert and Taklimakan desert) and larger areas of saline alkali land located in Xinjiang of China. However, the some oasis agricultural land mainly converted from desert closely suffered from the impact of salt and alkali. Thus, the oasis agricultural land converted from desert provided a platform studying the differences in soil physical and hydraulic properties between forest land and farmland after conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land. Exploring changes in soil properties after conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is not only conducive to understanding the mechanism of soil improvement after such land use change, but also necessary to optimize the soil management system in Xinjiang. In this study, we present the results of the soil and hydraulic properties in 0–60 cm soil profiles in forest and farmland converted from deserts in four typical regions suffered from different climate, soil property and geographical factors of Xinjiang in Northwest China. The soils were collected to determine soil water content, soil bulk density, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, Ks. The main objectives of this study were to address how soil hydraulic and physical properties respond to tillage after conversion of deserts into oases, and to identify whether such responses vary with soil depth, i.e., surface soil vs subsoil, and different oases lands converted from deserts. Such knowledges are essential for the understanding of agroecosystem hydrological cycling after conversion of deserts into oases in Xinjiang and other such arid and extremely arid oases regions. Materials and Methods Study area We conducted this study in four typical oases agricultural regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu cities) of Xinjiang in the Northwest China (Fig. 1 ). Xinjiang is located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent along the northwestern border of China, far from the geographical location of the sea, and the unique topography of Xinjiang forms its continental, strongly temperate, arid climate. Xinjiang has a vast territory, with a significant difference in climate between the north and the south and a significant disparity in water and heat distribution. The ILi, Yukang, Hami cities of the selected four typical oases agricultural regions located in the north but Kunyu city in the south of Xinjiang. The topography in Hami city (91°06′~96°23′E, 40°52′~45°05′N) is characterized by the typical basin with average elevations of 600–5000 m asl. The Hami city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 9.8°C, the mean annual precipitation is 33.8 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 3,300 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 3,358 h, the annual cumulative temperature of ≥ 10°C is 4,058.3°C. The average frost-free period is about 182 days. The soil of study region in Hami city is mainly classified by sierozem, with a pH of 8.2, organic matter concentration of 13.5 g kg − 1 , total nitrogen concentration of 0.5 g kg − 1 , total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg − 1 , available phosphorus concentration of 46.5 mg kg − 1 , and available potassium concentration of 112 mg kg − 1 at 0–15 cm soil depth. The topography of study region in Fukang city (85°34′~91°32′E, 43°06′~45°38′N) is characterized by the typical oasis region with elevations of 400–2600 m asl. The Fukang city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 6.8°C, the mean annual precipitation is 185 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 2065 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2931 h, the annual cumulative temperature of ≥ 10°C is 3076°C. The average frost-free period is about 156 days. The soil of study region in Fukang city is mainly classified by sandy soil, with a pH of 8.9, organic matter concentration of 11.2 g kg − 1 , total nitrogen concentration of 0.7 g kg − 1 , total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg − 1 , available phosphorus concentration of 14.2 mg kg − 1 , and available potassium concentration of 228 mg kg − 1 at 0–15 cm soil depth. The topography in Ili region (80°09'~84°56'E, 42°14'~44°50'N) is characterized by the four mountains-three basins-one valley-one widen plain with elevations of 189–6000 m asl. The Fukang city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 8.8°C, the mean annual precipitation is 365.5 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 1820 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2776 h, the annual cumulative temperature of ≥ 10°C is 3300°C. The average frost-free period is about 165 days. The soil of study region in Ili region is mainly classified by sierozem, with a pH of 7.8, organic matter concentration of 15.5 g kg − 1 , total nitrogen concentration of 1.1 g kg − 1 , total phosphorus concentration of 0.9 g kg − 1 , available phosphorus concentration of 7.8 mg kg − 1 , and available potassium concentration of 320 mg kg − 1 at 0–15 cm soil depth. The topography in Kunyu city (77°24'~84°55'E, 34°20'~39°38'N) is characterized by the typical desert-oasis plain region basin with elevations of 1304 ~ 1397 m asl. The Kunyu city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 12.2°C, the mean annual precipitation is 35 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 2400 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2769 h, the annual cumulative temperature of ≥ 10°C is 4208°C. The average frost-free period is about 244 days. The soil of study region in Kunyu city is classified by sandy soil, with a pH of 8.1, organic matter concentration of 5.4 g kg − 1 , total nitrogen concentration of 0.3 g kg − 1 , total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg − 1 , available phosphorus concentration of 15.3 mg kg − 1 , and available potassium concentration of 217.4 mg kg − 1 at 0–15 cm soil depth. Soil sampling In this study, we established our sampling plots in farmland and adjacent forest that both were converted from deserts into oases agricultural land in four typical oases agricultural regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu cities). The cultivated plants of farmland was grape ( Vitis vinifera L.), tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and maize ( Zea mays L.) in Hami, Yukang, ILi and Kunyu cities, respectively. Planted tree species of forest were poplar ( Populus L.) in this study. The forest and farmland were planted for about 20–30 years in Hami, Yukang, ILi and Kunyu cities after conversion of deserts. Three subplots (10×10 m) as replicates at each farmland and adjacent forest in four typical oases agricultural regions were established for soil sampling. The sampling plots in each farmland and forest were randomly established and were at least 10 m apart from each other. According to sampling method described by Li et al. ( 2019 a and 2020), in each subplot, undisturbed soil cores were collected from soil depths of 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, and 40–50 cm using 100 cm 3 stainless-steel cylinders (with 5.0-cm height). Additionally, five disturbed soil samples were collected from each depth within each subplot using a 5.0-cm diameter soil auger and were combined to form a composite sample. The undisturbed soil cores and composite soil samples were carefully taken to the laboratory. The undisturbed soil cores were used to determine saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks, cm d − 1 ), soil total porosity (%), capillary porosity (%), non-capillary porosity (%), soil maximum water capacity (%), capillary water capacity (%), field capacity (%), wilting coefficient (%) and bulk density (g cm − 3 ). The composite samples were used for measurement of the soil water content and other indices. Measurement of soil hydraulic and physical properties Soil water content was determined by oven drying fresh soil samples in aluminum boxes at 105 ◦ C for 24 hours. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the undisturbed soil was determined using the constant head method based on Darcy's law (Klute and Dirksen, 1986 ). After the end of Ks determination, the ring knife containing the in situ soil was placed in a large plastic container and water was added to the plastic container until the surface of the water just reached the top of the ring knife, soaked until the soil was completely saturated and weighed (m 1 ). Placing the ring knife on dry sand for 2 hours at room temperature, at this time the non-capillary moisture in the soil in the ring knife has all flowed out, but the capillaries of the soil in the ring knife are still full of water, weigh the ring knife immediately (m 2 ), then calculating the water held in the capillary. Continue to place the ring knife on dry sand for 24 hours, at this time the moisture in the soil in the ring knife is the water suspended from the capillaries, weigh the ring knife immediately (m 3 ), then calculating the Minimum water holding capacity (field holding capacity). The ring knife was dried in an oven at 105 o C until constant weight, weighed (m 4 ), and the soil capacity was obtained by calculating the mass of dried soil per unit volume of ring knife. Maximum water capacity(%) \(\:=\frac{{\text{m}}_{1}-{\text{m}}_{4}}{{\text{m}}_{4}}\) ×100 Capillary water capacity(%) \(\:=\frac{{\text{m}}_{2}-{\text{m}}_{4}}{{\text{m}}_{4}}\) ×100 Field capacity(%) \(\:=\frac{{\text{m}}_{3}-{\text{m}}_{4}}{{\text{m}}_{4}}\) ×100 Soil bulk density(g cm − ³)= \(\:\frac{{m}_{4}}{V}\) Based on the above parameters, non-capillary porosity, capillary porosity, total porosity, wilting coefficient can be calculated. Non-capillary porosity(%)=0.1×༈maximum water capacity-capillary water capacity༉×soil bulk density/density of water Capillary porosity(%)=0.1×capillary water capacity×soil bulk density/density of water Total porosity(%)=non-capillary porosity + capillary porosity Wilting coefficient = 0.7×field capacity Statistical analysis Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the effect of the conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land, soil depth, and their interactive effects on soil hydraulic and physical properties. Pearson’s correlation analyses were conducted to establish relationships among soil properties. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test for normality, and data were log-transformed when necessary. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 13.0. Results Soil water content In this study, soil water content in forest continuously increased from 1.35%, 5.02%, 0.53% and 1.74% at 0–10 cm soil depth to 5.92%, 8.26%, 10.78% and 5.23% at 40–50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. While soil water content in farmland increased from 15.3%, 10.5%, 6.47% and 18.16% from 0–10 cm soil depth to 17.82%, 8.56%, 7.99% and 19.71% at 20–30 cm soil depth but decreased from those at 20–30 cm soil depth to 17.92%, 8.26%, 5.5% and 15.8% at 40–50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions (P < 0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil water content was 3.24% vs 16.19%, 7.47% vs 12.46%, 3.79% vs 6.49%, and 2.99% vs 18.65% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil bulk density and soil porosity Soil bulk density were higher in farmland than those in forest of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu (P < 0.01). However, soil bulk density was higher at 0–30 cm soil depth but lower at 30–50 cm soil depth in forest than that in farmland of Hami (P < 0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil bulk density was 1.23 vs 1.45 g cm − 3 , 1.49 vs 1.58 g cm − 3 , 1.72 vs 1.68 g cm − 3 , and 1.33 vs 1.46 g cm − 3 in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Changes in soil bulk density differed along soil profiles from ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The averaged soil bulk density was 21.13% vs 9.0%, 39.8% vs 15.9%, 8.13% vs 0.69% higher in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi, respectively. Soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower in forest than those in farmland of Kunyu (P < 0.01). However, soil non-capillary porosity were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than that in farmland, but soil total porosity and capillary porosity were significantly higher at 0–30 cm soil depths in farmland than those in forest of Hami. The difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20–50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Averaged across soil depths, soil total porosity were 51.35% vs 41.74%, 47.22% vs 38.71%, 37.76% vs 36.42%, 45.54% vs 48.28% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil capillary porosity were 46.58% vs 37.95%, 40.5% vs 36.97%, 32.17% vs 34.7%, 40.59% vs 40.86% in forest vs farmland, and soil non-capillary porosity were 4.77% vs 3.79%, 6.92% vs 1.74%, 5.59% vs 1.72%, 4.94% vs 7.42%, respectively. Soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi regardless of higher capillary porosity in farmland and non-capillary porosity in forest in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. In general, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary decreased at 0–20 cm and 30–50 cm soil depth but increased at 20–30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Soil moisture constant Soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower at 0–30 cm soil depths in forest than those in farmland of Hami and Kunyu (P < 0.01). The difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20–50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Averaged across soil depths, soil maximum water capacity was 51.35% vs 41.74%, 47.42% vs 38.71%, 37.76% vs 36.43%, and 45.54% vs 48.28% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil capillary water capacity was 46.58% vs 37.95%, 40.5% vs 36.97%, 32.17% vs 34.7%, and 40.6% vs 40.86%, field capacity was 38.16% vs 31.02%, 31.31% vs 27.33%, 24.43% vs 25.3%, and 28.99% vs 30%, wilting coefficient was 26.72% vs 21.72%, 21.92% vs 19.13%, 17.1% vs 17.7%, and 20.29% vs 21% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In general, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient decreased at 0–20 cm and 30–50 cm soil depths but increased at 20–30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity Soil K s in forest were significantly higher than those in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu regardless of lower K s at 0–15 cm soil depth in forest of Yukang (P < 0.01). However, soil K s in forest were significantly lower than that in farmland of Hami regardless of higher K s at 0–15 cm soil depth in forest of Hami (P < 0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil K s was 0.029 vs 0.063 mm min − 1 , 0.02 vs 0.013 mm min − 1 , 0.059 vs 0.129 mm min − 1 , and 0.216 vs 0.02 mm min − 1 in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Furthermore, soil K s were 31.03% vs 79.37%, 103.45% vs 104.76%, and 644.83% vs 68.25% lower at whole soil depths in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In general, soil K s decreased from 0–10 cm soil depth to 40–50 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Discussion Effects of land use change on soil water content in different typical regions of Xinjiang In present study, soil water content in forest increased by 3.9 ± 0.66% from 0–10 cm soil depth to 40–50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang and Kunyu, but increased by approximately 10.25% in Hami (Fig. 4 ). The result was mainly due to higher water loss resulted from arid climate in Xinjiang, in particular Hami. Another alternative explanation was that water uptake of plant lost more surface soil water. Our results were in agreement with previous observations that the dry climate condition induced the lack of the water resources and the soil salinization in the inland area, and drought can cause plant roots to deeper grow and further gather more underground soil moisture (Smith et al., 2016 ; Buruso et al., 2023 ; Chen et al., 2010 ; Ferreira et al., 2022 ). However, the results were no in accordance with that the soil water content in forest significantly decreased with increasing soil depth (Li et al., 2021a ; Korkanç, 2014 ; Kou et al.,2016; Benedito Mendes Brito et al., 2018 ). We also observed that soil water content in farmland increased by 2.02 ± 0.5% from 0–10 cm soil depth to 20–30 cm soil depth but decreased by approximately 3.2% from 20–30 cm soil depth to 40–50 cm soil depth in four typical regions. This was probably because of the combine effect of the dry climate condition, crop rooting depth and the thickness of cultivation. Zhang et al. ( 2024 ) and Maurel and Nacry ( 2020 ) indicated that the dry climate condition could make crop have well-developed root systems in order to adapt to arid and water deficient environments. Li et al. ( 2019 b) and Jeřábek et al. ( 2017 ) reported that cultivation caused the formation of plough pan, therefore retaining sufficient water and nutrients in plough pan. Our results showed that soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis (P < 0.01), indicating that land use change significantly affected soil water content in four typical regions of Xinjiang. It could be expected that shallowly rooting of crop weakened the depletion of soil water storage in farmland due to the reduced water uptake of deep roots in croplands compared with that in forest (Li et al., 2022a ; Li et al., 2024 ). In addition, tillage and inputs of chemical fertilizer and litter improved soil structure that was prone to retaining sufficient water and nutrients (Krauss et al., 2020 ; Julie et al., 2024 ). Thirdly, frequent irrigation meeting fundamental conditions for growing of plants significantly increased soil water content in farmland compared with forest. These explanations was supported by our previous observation that converting forest to cropland significantly increased the soil water content at the 15–100 cm depth in Mollisols of Northeast China (Li et al., 2021b ). Our results were consistent with previous results that cultivation could be profit to increasing soil water content in farmland compared with no-irrigation in forest (Faisal et al., 2023; Li et al., 2022b ). We also found that soil water content was 4.23% vs -3.37%, 0.55% vs -9.7%, and − 0.25% vs 2.64% higher in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi, respectively. The results indicated that soil water content was highest in farmland of Kunyu and forest of Yukang, but was lowest in farmland of Hami and forest of Kunyu. These results could be ascribed to different climate condition, soil texture, cultivation and crop type in four typical regions of Xinjiang. For instance, Hamidov et al. ( 2018 ) indicated that climate change can affect temperature, precipitation, and moisture regime changes, and further affects irrigation schedule, crop rotation changes, and tillage practices. Fang and Su ( 2019 ) found that soil texture determines the soil water-holding capacity, infiltration, water distribution in the soil profile and transfer pattern, and water retention time in the soil Effects of land use change on soil bulk density and soil porosity in different typical regions of Xinjiang In this study, soil bulk density were higher in farmland than those in forest of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu (P < 0.01), and the difference was greatest in ILi. However, soil bulk density was lower at 0–30 cm soil depth but higher at 30–50 cm soil depth in farmland than that in forest of Hami (P < 0.01). The difference in soil water content from forest and farmland was attributed to lower inputs of organic materials, lower earthworm activity and mechanical tillage in farmland. The higher input of organic materials and frequent earthworm activity was prone to improve soil structure in forest (Ruiz et al., 2021 ). The mechanical tillage could destroy the topsoil structure to reduce soil porosity (Wang et al., 2019 ; So et al., 2009 ). A similar result was reported by Sun et al. ( 2018 ) that soil bulk density were higher in farmland than in forest of China based on a meta-analysis. Our results found that changes in soil bulk density differed along soil profiles from four typical regions of Xinjiang, which the difference could mainly result from soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing), and input of organic materials due to cropping patterns. Pravin et al. ( 2013 ) indicated that bulk density was dependent on calcarcous and salinenature of soils but independent on whether soil isacidic or alkaline and there was high degree reverse correlation between organic matter and bulk density of soil. We also found that the soil bulk density was higher in Yukang and Hami compared with ILi. The results was mainly due to interactive effect of climate condition, soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing) and cropping patterns. There were obvious difference in climate condition, soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing) and cropping patterns among four typical regions of Xinjiang, therefore resulting in difference in soil bulk density of four typical regions. Averaged across soil depths, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami except for total porosity and capillary porosity from 0–30 soil in Hami, but was lower in Kunyu. The higher soil porosity in forest of ILi, Yukang and Hami could be ascribed to the no-destruction resulting from tillage disturbance and more input of organic material in forest compared with long-term cultivation management in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami (Holthusen et al., 2018 ). However, the lower soil porosity in forest of Kunyu could be attribute to the incomplete reconstruction effects of input of organic material on forest soil compared with the more positive effects of application of abundant chemical fertilizer on agricultural soil following the short-term conversion of desert to oasis agriculture land in Kunyu (Robinson et al., 2022 ). Li et al. ( 2021b ) showed that long-term cultivation, including periodic activities of irrigation and fertilizer application, tillage, planting, and harvesting, could destroy soil aggregation and structure and therefore lead to the deterioration of soil porosity in farmland. Holthusen et al. ( 2018 ) found that long-term input of organic material and no tillage disturbance in forest was more prone to the increase in soil aggregation, soil organic matter, soil porosity and further improve of soil structure. However, Řezáčová et al.. ( 2021 ) reported that the short-term cultivation more significantly increased the soil nutrient concentration, aggregate stability and soil structure in agricultural soil compared with only input of of organic material in forest soil. We found that the difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20–50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. This was probably because of that the fine soil particle could fill up surface soil pore resulted from frequent activity in surface soil layer of farmland and forest (Liu et al., 2023 ; Lucas et al., 2019). Liu et al. ( 2023 ) showed that frequent irrigation resulted in alternation of drying and wetting cycles destroying surface soil structure and directly carried fine particles into surface soil pore, further causing deterioration of surface soil pore. Lucas et al. (2019) showed that well-developed root systems from trees and weeds system would compact the surface soil and therefore deteriorated surface soil pore. In this study, soil total porosity and capillary porosity were significantly lower but non-capillary porosity was higher in forest of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, while soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were lower in farmland of Yukang and Hami but was higher in farmland of Kunyu, compared with ILi. Our results indicated that soil total porosity was dominated by capillary porosity but no non-capillary in forest and agricultural soil of Xinjiang, China. The results could be because of comprehensive influence of soil texture, crop type, farming method and management system, and climate. On the one hand, the humid climate and soil type were conducive to the growth of plants and crops and therefore more input of organic material into soil to improve soil structure in forest and farmland of ILi. On the other hand, the arid climate and worse soil type led to planting drought-tolerant crops and formulating continuous periodic irrigation schedule, thereby resulting in aggravation of soil structure deterioration due to drying and wetting cycles, in extremely arid regions, i.e., Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Our results were consistent with that soil texture, farming method and management system, and climate significantly affected soil total porosity and capillary porosity, and favourable soil texture and climate significantly upgraded soil total porosity and capillary porosity (Renato et al., 2022 ; Patel et al., 2021 ). In addition, we found that soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary generally decreased at 0–20 cm and 30–50 cm soil depths but increased at 20–30 cm soil depths in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results were ascribed to that tillage and periodic death of roots could loose surface soil and further be prone to forming soil large pore, and fine soil particles usually was transported through surface large soil pore to developing better surface soil structure at 20–30 cm soil depths (Zhang et al., 2021a ; Rabot et al., 2018 ). However, the plough pan in farmland and well-developed root systems of trees and weeds in forest resulted in deterioration of soil structure and therefore soil porosity decreased along 30–50 cm soil profiles. Our observation was in agreement with previous results that changes in soil total porosity along soil profile was affected by input of organic and compaction growth of roots and tillage (Peng et al., 2024 ; Rodrigo et al., 2021). Effects of land use change on soil moisture constant in different typical regions of Xinjiang In this study, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower at 0–30 cm soil depths in forest than those in farmland of Hami and Kunyu (P < 0.01). The difference were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The distributions in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest and farmland could be ascribed to lower soil bulk density, higher soil total porosity and capillary porosity in forest compared with farmland. The explanations were supported by our previous mentioned results (Figs. 2 and 3 ). The results were in accord with the early observation from Zhang et al. ( 2021b ) that the soil capillary water capacity, field capacity, and soil saturation water capacity in forest understory were higher than those in farmland, and farmland mainly increases the soil total porosity by increasing the noncapillary porosity, thereby promoting the infiltration of water during irrigation. We showed that soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In first, the results also was related to higher soil bulk density, lower soil total porosity and capillary porosity in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Additionally, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were affected by soil type and climate. The explanation was supported by our observation that sand and silt contents were higher but clay contents were lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. Yu et al., ( 2023b ) found that under the similar climate, sand soil is more prone to occur agricultural drought than clay soils, while loam, loamy sand and sandy loam fell between these two soils. Sand, loam and loamy sand had the highest percentage of extremely agricultural drought, while clay showed the highest resistance to severe and extremely agricultural drought with high air temperature and low precipitation. Mohanty et al., ( 2015 ) indicated that soil texture and bulk density were significantly correlated with field capacity and wilting coefficient, hence, are suitable for development of pedotransfer functions to predict water content at field capacity and wilting coefficient. In addition, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient decreased at 0–20 cm and 30–50 cm soil depth but increased at 20–30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results were consistent with our observation about changes in soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary along 0–60 cm soil profiles. Therefore, variations in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient with increases of soil depth could be affected by tillage and periodic death of roots in surface soil, transportation of fine soil particles in subsurface soil and the plough pan in farmland and well-developed root systems of trees and weeds in deep soils (30–50 cm). Effects of land use change on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity in different typical regions of Xinjiang In present study, soil K s in forest were significantly higher than those in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu regardless of lower K s at 0–15 cm soil depth in forest of Yukang, but was lower than that in farmland of Hami except for higher K s at 0–15 cm soil depth in forest of Hami. These results about K s in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami were attributed to the positive correlation of K s with soil total porosity, capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, but a negative correlation with the bulk density (R 2 = 0.99, P < 0.01) in this study. However, the K s in forest and farmland of Kunyu was positively related to soil total porosity, capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, but a negative correlation with the BD (R 2 = 0.99, P < 0.01) in this study. This explanation is supported by the result reported by Wu et al. ( 2016 ), in which K s was an integrating parameter for several physical characteristics, such as the bulk density, porosity and soil particle composition. Our results were consistent with previous observations about the effect of the cultivation (Ehlers, 1975 ; Barnes and Ellis, 1979 ; Udom et al., 2018 ), bulk density, porosity, and soil organic matter content (Assouline et al., 1997 ; Dec et al., 2008 ) on K s . Furthermore, soil K s were 31.03% vs 79.37% lower in forest vs farmland of Fukang but 103.45% vs 104.76% higher in forest vs farmland of Hami compared with ILi. However, soil K s was 644.83% higher in forest but 68.25% lower in farmland along whole soil profile in Kunyu compared with ILi. The difference in soil K s from forest and farmland among Yukang, ILi, Hami and Kunyu was attributed to integrated influences of soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest and farmland of those regions. The explanation was supported by our above mentioned reasons about soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient resulting from land use changes and different regions. We showed that soil K s decreased from 0–10 cm soil depth to 40–50 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results also were integrated influences of soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient along soil profile in forest and farmland of those regions. The results about K s in four typical gray desert soil regions of Xinjiang was supported by our previous results in the typical black soil region of Northeast China indicating that the organic matter, Ks, soil water content, capillary moisture capacity and field capacity decreased, but bulk density increased with soil depth at the eroding and non-erosion sites (Li et al., 2021a and b ). Conclusions In present study, we addressed changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions to better understand how land use change influences agroecosystem hydrological processes of Xinjiang, China. The results demonstrated significant effects of conversion from desert to oasis, soil depth and their interaction on soil water content, soil bulk density, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, K s . In general, soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis, but soil bulk density, soil total porosity, K s , capillary porosity, non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami (P < 0.01), except for lower K s , soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest of Hami and Kunyu. The difference in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. In addition, soil total porosity, K s , capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower but soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity was higher in forest and farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, compared with ILi. Our results indicated that land use change could significantly influence agroecosystem hydrological processes of Xinjiang, China, in particular conversion from desert to oasis. Declarations Acknowledgments This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42267041), the Tianchi Talent Program of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (CZ002304), and the Programs from Shihezi University (CXBJ202205 and 2022CK009). Additional Information Wen Yue, Shihezi University, E-mail: [email protected] Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. 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J Genet Genomics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgg.2024.05.001 Zhang YW, Wang KB, Wang J (2021b) Changes in soil water holding capacity and water availability following vegetation restoration on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Sci Rep 11:9692. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88914-0 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6731614","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":473188720,"identity":"d0c438ed-159d-41b4-a6f8-78fcf76b37c8","order_by":0,"name":"Xiang Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":473188721,"identity":"eafc65fe-65bf-4aed-ae68-fe774257ad34","order_by":1,"name":"Yushan Yuan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yushan","middleName":"","lastName":"Yuan","suffix":""},{"id":473188722,"identity":"3c7ad2f0-44e2-4735-9b48-bd79ddd5dec8","order_by":2,"name":"Haiqiang Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwbmhgMJFTY8/MzMhx8QqYWx4cCDM2kyku1saQZEa2F82HbYxuA8j4IEUVrM2RMbDyS2HeYxPswD1F9jE01Qi2XPQ6BfzqXzmB3mPfCA4VhabgNBh91IBGopswZq4UswYGw4TKwWNmYe42YeAwkStLQ58xgwE63lDMgvZ9J4JA4DAzmBKL8cTz788UeFjT1//+HDDz7U2BDWwsCQgINNpJZRMApGwSgYBdgAAJOnRX2GDNhLAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9909-8885","institution":"Shihezi University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haiqiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":473188723,"identity":"a718042c-a42a-481c-a69c-017c6260634f","order_by":3,"name":"Zhenhua Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhenhua","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":473188724,"identity":"98449269-17da-499c-9a12-54c356d9167b","order_by":4,"name":"Xiaozhu Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaozhu","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":473188725,"identity":"f9d75f97-1f50-4824-bbd9-e2a847c93c63","order_by":5,"name":"Cong Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cong","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-23 09:47:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85062011,"identity":"dcfb8d1f-7da3-43c8-8be2-d02549a89451","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-20 14:09:14","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":879540,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eLocation of four study sites in Xinjiang, China.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6731614/v1/a3757a1d5e411661be472ce8.png"},{"id":85061281,"identity":"931c1f3d-b2d3-437e-b391-fecfb0930e59","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-20 14:01:14","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":60512,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eProfile distribution of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and soil bulk density as affected by converting forest to farmland in Hami, Fukang, Kunyu and Ili of Xinjiang, China. The error bars are two standard errors of the means.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6731614/v1/9ba48269d3889bddcc0ba490.png"},{"id":85061280,"identity":"99e2df45-a08c-4f4c-9883-47326c901775","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-20 14:01:14","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":70012,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eProfile distribution of total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity as affected by converting forest to farmland in Hami, Fukang, Kunyu and Ili of Xinjiang, China. The error bars are two standard errors of the means.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6731614/v1/0ec5b3ceb8326922502ad371.png"},{"id":85061282,"identity":"29a1d390-e312-4ac9-8554-ab8f6e461928","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-20 14:01:14","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":116954,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eProfile distribution of maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity, wilting coefficient and soil water content as affected by converting forest to farmland in Hami, Fukang, Kunyu and Ili of Xinjiang, China. The error bars are two standard errors of the means.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6731614/v1/d0e78bccd96314d10e654e4b.png"},{"id":90270073,"identity":"34f2e4cc-0871-4d24-9188-2d2281090563","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-31 21:35:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2062026,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6731614/v1/57240976-5f1c-43fa-9653-763d0f6bea3d.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions of Xinjiang, China","fulltext":[{"header":"Highlights","content":"\u003cp\u003e1. Effects of converting desert to oasis on soil physical and hydraulic properties varied with different region in Xinjiang.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. Soil from forest and farmland in ILi were prone to establishing oasis compared with other regions in Xinjiang.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. The difference in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland were greater in 20\u0026ndash;50 cm deep soils at the same region in Xinjiang.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eConversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is one of the most effective measures to improve the ecological environment, mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure food security in some arid and extremely arid regions (Korkan\u0026ccedil;, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Lin et al, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Since the 20th century, many natural desert have been changed into oasis agricultural land to improve the human living environment and increase crop planting area based on application of drip irrigation water-saving technology in Israel, Pakistan and China (Shang et al, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Schackermann et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Ullah et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR69\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Previous studies showed that land-use conversion had pronounced effects on physical, biological or chemical properties of soil since it regulates the given farming management system, such as the irrigation and fertilization schedule, farming intensity and crop type, etc. (Barreto et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e; Bronick and Lal, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Del Galdo et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e; Elliott, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1986\u003c/span\u003e; Lal, R., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1993\u003c/span\u003e; Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003ea, 2020 and 2021a). Smith et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR65\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) demonstrated that converting forest or natural grassland to pasture or cropland could result in decreases of soil carbon and other nutrients and changes in above- and below-ground biodiversity due to removing surface biomass, changing vegetation type and frequently disturbing soils. However, abandonment of cropland can increase both above- and below-ground carbon and nutrients. Therefore, the characteristics of land use or land management could directly result in melioration or degradation of soil properties. Understanding changes in soil physic-hydraulic properties resulted from conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is imperative for assessing soil fertility, grain yield and local ecology in some arid and extremely arid oases regions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil physical and hydraulic properties significantly differed from forest, grassland and farmland in developed agricultural regions (Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003ea and 2021a; Jabro et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Villarreal et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Guimar\u0026atilde;es et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Anghinoni et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Benedito et al., 2018; Burgos et al., 2019; Chen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Fu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Paltineanu et al, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR52\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; R\u0026uuml;cknagel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Previous studies demonstrated that the reduction of vegetation cover could result in the deterioration of soil physical-hydraulic properties and further depletion of soil quality after conversion of forest and grassland to arable land (Buruso et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Bewket and Stroosnijder, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e; Ashagrie et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e; Guimar\u0026atilde;es et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). For example, Bewket and Stroosnijder (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e) found that deforestation and conversion of forest land to arable land deteriorated soil physical and hydraulic properties in Ethiopia's Chemoga basin. Asmare et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) showed that, soil properties were degraded after the conversion of forest land to arable land, especially permeability, bulk density and porosity. Buraka et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) and Yu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR74\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023a\u003c/span\u003e) showed that soil hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity and effective water content were significantly lower but bulk density was higher in cultivated land compared with forest land. Agricultural activities(i.e., frequent tillage and use of agricultural machinery) was main factor depleting soil properties and damaging soil structure, thus further adversely affecting soil quality (Kar et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Guimar\u0026atilde;es et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Newell-Price et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Akinde et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) showed that tillage could frequently and directly damage soil structural unit integrity and therefore decrease soil permeability, porosity, saturated water conductivity and soil volume. Keller et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) illustrated that the historical increase in compaction levels has drastically decreased saturated hydraulic conductivity and water storage capacity of subsoils. However, Ovsepyan et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) found that the total enzyme activity increased by 5-fold and the share of C-cycle enzymes with ''narrower\" substrate specificity (cellobiohydrolase and chitinase) increased due to the increase in the diversity and recalcitrance of organic compounds in the plant litter after the converting cropland to natural forest. Evidently, land use conversion could significantly result in changes in soil properties, soil structure and soil quality in developed agricultural regions. Therefore, it is urgently needed to understand how soil properties respond to the conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt present, many researches focused on the differences of soil physical properties and hydraulic properties between forest land and cultivated land, but the researches on soil quality in oasis agricultural area after desert transformation are relatively weak. Xinjiang, as a typical arid region in northwest China, has unique landform structure (i.e., three mountains and two basins) and landscape pattern (i.e., mountain, oasis and desert) with significant regional differences. Wu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR73\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) showed that there were typical land use types in Xinjiang, that the main land use types are grassland, sparse grassland, cultivated land, shrubland, and forest land, accounting for 48.28% of the total area of Xinjiang, and ecological hydrological characteristics of inland river basins. The oasis subjected to the most intense human activities mainly distributed in the middle reaches of river, with most of cultivated land accounting for over 90% of the total water consumption in the basin (Wu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR73\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). As well known, two famous desert (i.e., Gurbantonggut desert and Taklimakan desert) and larger areas of saline alkali land located in Xinjiang of China. However, the some oasis agricultural land mainly converted from desert closely suffered from the impact of salt and alkali. Thus, the oasis agricultural land converted from desert provided a platform studying the differences in soil physical and hydraulic properties between forest land and farmland after conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land. Exploring changes in soil properties after conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land is not only conducive to understanding the mechanism of soil improvement after such land use change, but also necessary to optimize the soil management system in Xinjiang.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, we present the results of the soil and hydraulic properties in 0\u0026ndash;60 cm soil profiles in forest and farmland converted from deserts in four typical regions suffered from different climate, soil property and geographical factors of Xinjiang in Northwest China. The soils were collected to determine soil water content, soil bulk density, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, Ks. The main objectives of this study were to address how soil hydraulic and physical properties respond to tillage after conversion of deserts into oases, and to identify whether such responses vary with soil depth, i.e., surface soil vs subsoil, and different oases lands converted from deserts. Such knowledges are essential for the understanding of agroecosystem hydrological cycling after conversion of deserts into oases in Xinjiang and other such arid and extremely arid oases regions.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Materials and Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eStudy area\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe conducted this study in four typical oases agricultural regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu cities) of Xinjiang in the Northwest China (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). Xinjiang is located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent along the northwestern border of China, far from the geographical location of the sea, and the unique topography of Xinjiang forms its continental, strongly temperate, arid climate. Xinjiang has a vast territory, with a significant difference in climate between the north and the south and a significant disparity in water and heat distribution. The ILi, Yukang, Hami cities of the selected four typical oases agricultural regions located in the north but Kunyu city in the south of Xinjiang.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe topography in Hami city (91\u0026deg;06\u0026prime;~96\u0026deg;23\u0026prime;E, 40\u0026deg;52\u0026prime;~45\u0026deg;05\u0026prime;N) is characterized by the typical basin with average elevations of 600\u0026ndash;5000 m asl. The Hami city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 9.8\u0026deg;C, the mean annual precipitation is 33.8 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 3,300 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 3,358 h, the annual cumulative temperature of \u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;10\u0026deg;C is 4,058.3\u0026deg;C. The average frost-free period is about 182 days. The soil of study region in Hami city is mainly classified by sierozem, with a pH of 8.2, organic matter concentration of 13.5 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total nitrogen concentration of 0.5 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, available phosphorus concentration of 46.5 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and available potassium concentration of 112 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe topography of study region in Fukang city (85\u0026deg;34\u0026prime;~91\u0026deg;32\u0026prime;E, 43\u0026deg;06\u0026prime;~45\u0026deg;38\u0026prime;N) is characterized by the typical oasis region with elevations of 400\u0026ndash;2600 m asl. The Fukang city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 6.8\u0026deg;C, the mean annual precipitation is 185 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 2065 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2931 h, the annual cumulative temperature of \u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;10\u0026deg;C is 3076\u0026deg;C. The average frost-free period is about 156 days. The soil of study region in Fukang city is mainly classified by sandy soil, with a pH of 8.9, organic matter concentration of 11.2 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total nitrogen concentration of 0.7 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, available phosphorus concentration of 14.2 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and available potassium concentration of 228 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe topography in Ili region (80\u0026deg;09'~84\u0026deg;56'E, 42\u0026deg;14'~44\u0026deg;50'N) is characterized by the four mountains-three basins-one valley-one widen plain with elevations of 189\u0026ndash;6000 m asl. The Fukang city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 8.8\u0026deg;C, the mean annual precipitation is 365.5 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 1820 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2776 h, the annual cumulative temperature of \u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;10\u0026deg;C is 3300\u0026deg;C. The average frost-free period is about 165 days. The soil of study region in Ili region is mainly classified by sierozem, with a pH of 7.8, organic matter concentration of 15.5 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total nitrogen concentration of 1.1 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total phosphorus concentration of 0.9 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, available phosphorus concentration of 7.8 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and available potassium concentration of 320 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe topography in Kunyu city (77\u0026deg;24'~84\u0026deg;55'E, 34\u0026deg;20'~39\u0026deg;38'N) is characterized by the typical desert-oasis plain region basin with elevations of 1304\u0026thinsp;~\u0026thinsp;1397 m asl. The Kunyu city has a typical temperate continental arid climate, the mean annual temperature is approximately 12.2\u0026deg;C, the mean annual precipitation is 35 mm, the mean annual evapotranspiration is up to 2400 mm, the mean annual sunshine duration is 2769 h, the annual cumulative temperature of \u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;10\u0026deg;C is 4208\u0026deg;C. The average frost-free period is about 244 days. The soil of study region in Kunyu city is classified by sandy soil, with a pH of 8.1, organic matter concentration of 5.4 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total nitrogen concentration of 0.3 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, total phosphorus concentration of 0.6 g kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, available phosphorus concentration of 15.3 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and available potassium concentration of 217.4 mg kg\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSoil sampling\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this study, we established our sampling plots in farmland and adjacent forest that both were converted from deserts into oases agricultural land in four typical oases agricultural regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu cities). The cultivated plants of farmland was grape (\u003cem\u003eVitis vinifera\u003c/em\u003e L.), tomato (\u003cem\u003eSolanum lycopersicum\u003c/em\u003e L.), wheat (\u003cem\u003eTriticum aestivum\u003c/em\u003e L.) and maize (\u003cem\u003eZea mays\u003c/em\u003e L.) in Hami, Yukang, ILi and Kunyu cities, respectively. Planted tree species of forest were poplar (\u003cem\u003ePopulus\u003c/em\u003e L.) in this study. The forest and farmland were planted for about 20\u0026ndash;30 years in Hami, Yukang, ILi and Kunyu cities after conversion of deserts.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThree subplots (10\u0026times;10 m) as replicates at each farmland and adjacent forest in four typical oases agricultural regions were established for soil sampling. The sampling plots in each farmland and forest were randomly established and were at least 10 m apart from each other. According to sampling method described by Li et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003ea and 2020), in each subplot, undisturbed soil cores were collected from soil depths of 0\u0026ndash;10, 10\u0026ndash;20, 20\u0026ndash;30, 30\u0026ndash;40, and 40\u0026ndash;50 cm using 100 cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e stainless-steel cylinders (with 5.0-cm height). Additionally, five disturbed soil samples were collected from each depth within each subplot using a 5.0-cm diameter soil auger and were combined to form a composite sample. The undisturbed soil cores and composite soil samples were carefully taken to the laboratory. The undisturbed soil cores were used to determine saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks, cm d\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e), soil total porosity (%), capillary porosity (%), non-capillary porosity (%), soil maximum water capacity (%), capillary water capacity (%), field capacity (%), wilting coefficient (%) and bulk density (g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e). The composite samples were used for measurement of the soil water content and other indices.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMeasurement of soil hydraulic and physical properties\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoil water content was determined by oven drying fresh soil samples in aluminum boxes at 105\u003csup\u003e◦\u003c/sup\u003e C for 24 hours. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the undisturbed soil was determined using the constant head method based on Darcy's law (Klute and Dirksen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1986\u003c/span\u003e). After the end of Ks determination, the ring knife containing the in situ soil was placed in a large plastic container and water was added to the plastic container until the surface of the water just reached the top of the ring knife, soaked until the soil was completely saturated and weighed (m\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e). Placing the ring knife on dry sand for 2 hours at room temperature, at this time the non-capillary moisture in the soil in the ring knife has all flowed out, but the capillaries of the soil in the ring knife are still full of water, weigh the ring knife immediately (m\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e), then calculating the water held in the capillary. Continue to place the ring knife on dry sand for 24 hours, at this time the moisture in the soil in the ring knife is the water suspended from the capillaries, weigh the ring knife immediately (m\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e), then calculating the Minimum water holding capacity (field holding capacity). The ring knife was dried in an oven at 105\u003csup\u003eo\u003c/sup\u003eC until constant weight, weighed (m\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e), and the soil capacity was obtained by calculating the mass of dried soil per unit volume of ring knife.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMaximum water capacity(%)\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:=\\frac{{\\text{m}}_{1}-{\\text{m}}_{4}}{{\\text{m}}_{4}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u0026times;100\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCapillary water capacity(%)\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:=\\frac{{\\text{m}}_{2}-{\\text{m}}_{4}}{{\\text{m}}_{4}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u0026times;100\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eField capacity(%)\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:=\\frac{{\\text{m}}_{3}-{\\text{m}}_{4}}{{\\text{m}}_{4}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u0026times;100\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil bulk density(g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026sup3;)=\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\frac{{m}_{4}}{V}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the above parameters, non-capillary porosity, capillary porosity, total porosity, wilting coefficient can be calculated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNon-capillary porosity(%)=0.1\u0026times;༈maximum water capacity-capillary water capacity༉\u0026times;soil bulk density/density of water\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCapillary porosity(%)=0.1\u0026times;capillary water capacity\u0026times;soil bulk density/density of water\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal porosity(%)=non-capillary porosity\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;capillary porosity\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWilting coefficient\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.7\u0026times;field capacity\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eStatistical analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTwo-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the effect of the conversion of deserts into oases agricultural land, soil depth, and their interactive effects on soil hydraulic and physical properties. Pearson\u0026rsquo;s correlation analyses were conducted to establish relationships among soil properties. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test for normality, and data were log-transformed when necessary. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 13.0.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eSoil water content\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, soil water content in forest continuously increased from 1.35%, 5.02%, 0.53% and 1.74% at 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 5.92%, 8.26%, 10.78% and 5.23% at 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. While soil water content in farmland increased from 15.3%, 10.5%, 6.47% and 18.16% from 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 17.82%, 8.56%, 7.99% and 19.71% at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth but decreased from those at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth to 17.92%, 8.26%, 5.5% and 15.8% at 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil water content was 3.24% vs 16.19%, 7.47% vs 12.46%, 3.79% vs 6.49%, and 2.99% vs 18.65% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSoil bulk density and soil porosity\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoil bulk density were higher in farmland than those in forest of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). However, soil bulk density was higher at 0\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth but lower at 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in forest than that in farmland of Hami (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil bulk density was 1.23 vs 1.45 g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e, 1.49 vs 1.58 g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e, 1.72 vs 1.68 g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e, and 1.33 vs 1.46 g cm\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3\u003c/sup\u003e in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Changes in soil bulk density differed along soil profiles from ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The averaged soil bulk density was 21.13% vs 9.0%, 39.8% vs 15.9%, 8.13% vs 0.69% higher in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower in forest than those in farmland of Kunyu (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). However, soil non-capillary porosity were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than that in farmland, but soil total porosity and capillary porosity were significantly higher at 0\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depths in farmland than those in forest of Hami. The difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Averaged across soil depths, soil total porosity were 51.35% vs 41.74%, 47.22% vs 38.71%, 37.76% vs 36.42%, 45.54% vs 48.28% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil capillary porosity were 46.58% vs 37.95%, 40.5% vs 36.97%, 32.17% vs 34.7%, 40.59% vs 40.86% in forest vs farmland, and soil non-capillary porosity were 4.77% vs 3.79%, 6.92% vs 1.74%, 5.59% vs 1.72%, 4.94% vs 7.42%, respectively. Soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi regardless of higher capillary porosity in farmland and non-capillary porosity in forest in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. In general, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary decreased at 0\u0026ndash;20 cm and 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth but increased at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSoil moisture constant\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower at 0\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depths in forest than those in farmland of Hami and Kunyu (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). The difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Averaged across soil depths, soil maximum water capacity was 51.35% vs 41.74%, 47.42% vs 38.71%, 37.76% vs 36.43%, and 45.54% vs 48.28% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil capillary water capacity was 46.58% vs 37.95%, 40.5% vs 36.97%, 32.17% vs 34.7%, and 40.6% vs 40.86%, field capacity was 38.16% vs 31.02%, 31.31% vs 27.33%, 24.43% vs 25.3%, and 28.99% vs 30%, wilting coefficient was 26.72% vs 21.72%, 21.92% vs 19.13%, 17.1% vs 17.7%, and 20.29% vs 21% in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In general, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient decreased at 0\u0026ndash;20 cm and 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depths but increased at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eSoil saturated hydraulic conductivity\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in forest were significantly higher than those in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu regardless of lower K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth in forest of Yukang (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). However, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in forest were significantly lower than that in farmland of Hami regardless of higher K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth in forest of Hami (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). Averaged all soil depths, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e was 0.029 vs 0.063 mm min\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, 0.02 vs 0.013 mm min\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, 0.059 vs 0.129 mm min\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e, and 0.216 vs 0.02 mm min\u003csup\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1\u003c/sup\u003e in forest vs farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, respectively. Furthermore, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e were 31.03% vs 79.37%, 103.45% vs 104.76%, and 644.83% vs 68.25% lower at whole soil depths in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In general, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e decreased from 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEffects of land use change on soil water content in different typical regions of Xinjiang\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn present study, soil water content in forest increased by 3.9\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.66% from 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in ILi, Yukang and Kunyu, but increased by approximately 10.25% in Hami (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). The result was mainly due to higher water loss resulted from arid climate in Xinjiang, in particular Hami. Another alternative explanation was that water uptake of plant lost more surface soil water. Our results were in agreement with previous observations that the dry climate condition induced the lack of the water resources and the soil salinization in the inland area, and drought can cause plant roots to deeper grow and further gather more underground soil moisture (Smith et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR65\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Buruso et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Chen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e; Ferreira et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). However, the results were no in accordance with that the soil water content in forest significantly decreased with increasing soil depth (Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021a\u003c/span\u003e; Korkan\u0026ccedil;, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Kou et al.,2016; Benedito Mendes Brito et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). We also observed that soil water content in farmland increased by 2.02\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.5% from 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth but decreased by approximately 3.2% from 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth to 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in four typical regions. This was probably because of the combine effect of the dry climate condition, crop rooting depth and the thickness of cultivation. Zhang et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR77\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) and Maurel and Nacry (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) indicated that the dry climate condition could make crop have well-developed root systems in order to adapt to arid and water deficient environments. Li et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003eb) and Jeř\u0026aacute;bek et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e) reported that cultivation caused the formation of plough pan, therefore retaining sufficient water and nutrients in plough pan.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur results showed that soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01), indicating that land use change significantly affected soil water content in four typical regions of Xinjiang. It could be expected that shallowly rooting of crop weakened the depletion of soil water storage in farmland due to the reduced water uptake of deep roots in croplands compared with that in forest (Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022a\u003c/span\u003e; Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). In addition, tillage and inputs of chemical fertilizer and litter improved soil structure that was prone to retaining sufficient water and nutrients (Krauss et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Julie et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Thirdly, frequent irrigation meeting fundamental conditions for growing of plants significantly increased soil water content in farmland compared with forest. These explanations was supported by our previous observation that converting forest to cropland significantly increased the soil water content at the 15\u0026ndash;100 cm depth in Mollisols of Northeast China (Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021b\u003c/span\u003e). Our results were consistent with previous results that cultivation could be profit to increasing soil water content in farmland compared with no-irrigation in forest (Faisal et al., 2023; Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022b\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe also found that soil water content was 4.23% vs -3.37%, 0.55% vs -9.7%, and \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;0.25% vs 2.64% higher in forest vs farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi, respectively. The results indicated that soil water content was highest in farmland of Kunyu and forest of Yukang, but was lowest in farmland of Hami and forest of Kunyu. These results could be ascribed to different climate condition, soil texture, cultivation and crop type in four typical regions of Xinjiang. For instance, Hamidov et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) indicated that climate change can affect temperature, precipitation, and moisture regime changes, and further affects irrigation schedule, crop rotation changes, and tillage practices. Fang and Su (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) found that soil texture determines the soil water-holding capacity, infiltration, water distribution in the soil profile and transfer pattern, and water retention time in the soil\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eEffects of land use change on soil bulk density and soil porosity in different typical regions of Xinjiang\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, soil bulk density were higher in farmland than those in forest of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01), and the difference was greatest in ILi. However, soil bulk density was lower at 0\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth but higher at 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in farmland than that in forest of Hami (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). The difference in soil water content from forest and farmland was attributed to lower inputs of organic materials, lower earthworm activity and mechanical tillage in farmland. The higher input of organic materials and frequent earthworm activity was prone to improve soil structure in forest (Ruiz et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). The mechanical tillage could destroy the topsoil structure to reduce soil porosity (Wang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR71\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; So et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e). A similar result was reported by Sun et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR67\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) that soil bulk density were higher in farmland than in forest of China based on a meta-analysis. Our results found that changes in soil bulk density differed along soil profiles from four typical regions of Xinjiang, which the difference could mainly result from soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing), and input of organic materials due to cropping patterns. Pravin et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e) indicated that bulk density was dependent on calcarcous and salinenature of soils but independent on whether soil isacidic or alkaline and there was high degree reverse correlation between organic matter and bulk density of soil. We also found that the soil bulk density was higher in Yukang and Hami compared with ILi. The results was mainly due to interactive effect of climate condition, soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing) and cropping patterns. There were obvious difference in climate condition, soil texture, the tillage method (moldboard plowing and chisel plowing) and cropping patterns among four typical regions of Xinjiang, therefore resulting in difference in soil bulk density of four typical regions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAveraged across soil depths, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami except for total porosity and capillary porosity from 0\u0026ndash;30 soil in Hami, but was lower in Kunyu. The higher soil porosity in forest of ILi, Yukang and Hami could be ascribed to the no-destruction resulting from tillage disturbance and more input of organic material in forest compared with long-term cultivation management in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami (Holthusen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). However, the lower soil porosity in forest of Kunyu could be attribute to the incomplete reconstruction effects of input of organic material on forest soil compared with the more positive effects of application of abundant chemical fertilizer on agricultural soil following the short-term conversion of desert to oasis agriculture land in Kunyu (Robinson et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR59\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Li et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021b\u003c/span\u003e) showed that long-term cultivation, including periodic activities of irrigation and fertilizer application, tillage, planting, and harvesting, could destroy soil aggregation and structure and therefore lead to the deterioration of soil porosity in farmland. Holthusen et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) found that long-term input of organic material and no tillage disturbance in forest was more prone to the increase in soil aggregation, soil organic matter, soil porosity and further improve of soil structure. However, Řez\u0026aacute;čov\u0026aacute; et al.. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) reported that the short-term cultivation more significantly increased the soil nutrient concentration, aggregate stability and soil structure in agricultural soil compared with only input of of organic material in forest soil. We found that the difference were greater from forest and farmland at 20\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. This was probably because of that the fine soil particle could fill up surface soil pore resulted from frequent activity in surface soil layer of farmland and forest (Liu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Lucas et al., 2019). Liu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) showed that frequent irrigation resulted in alternation of drying and wetting cycles destroying surface soil structure and directly carried fine particles into surface soil pore, further causing deterioration of surface soil pore. Lucas et al. (2019) showed that well-developed root systems from trees and weeds system would compact the surface soil and therefore deteriorated surface soil pore.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, soil total porosity and capillary porosity were significantly lower but non-capillary porosity was higher in forest of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, while soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were lower in farmland of Yukang and Hami but was higher in farmland of Kunyu, compared with ILi. Our results indicated that soil total porosity was dominated by capillary porosity but no non-capillary in forest and agricultural soil of Xinjiang, China. The results could be because of comprehensive influence of soil texture, crop type, farming method and management system, and climate. On the one hand, the humid climate and soil type were conducive to the growth of plants and crops and therefore more input of organic material into soil to improve soil structure in forest and farmland of ILi. On the other hand, the arid climate and worse soil type led to planting drought-tolerant crops and formulating continuous periodic irrigation schedule, thereby resulting in aggravation of soil structure deterioration due to drying and wetting cycles, in extremely arid regions, i.e., Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Our results were consistent with that soil texture, farming method and management system, and climate significantly affected soil total porosity and capillary porosity, and favourable soil texture and climate significantly upgraded soil total porosity and capillary porosity (Renato et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Patel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition, we found that soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary generally decreased at 0\u0026ndash;20 cm and 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depths but increased at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depths in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results were ascribed to that tillage and periodic death of roots could loose surface soil and further be prone to forming soil large pore, and fine soil particles usually was transported through surface large soil pore to developing better surface soil structure at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depths (Zhang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR76\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021a\u003c/span\u003e; Rabot et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). However, the plough pan in farmland and well-developed root systems of trees and weeds in forest resulted in deterioration of soil structure and therefore soil porosity decreased along 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil profiles. Our observation was in agreement with previous results that changes in soil total porosity along soil profile was affected by input of organic and compaction growth of roots and tillage (Peng et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e; Rodrigo et al., 2021).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eEffects of land use change on soil moisture constant in different typical regions of Xinjiang\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly higher at whole soil depths in forest than those in farmland of ILi and Yukang but significantly lower at 0\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depths in forest than those in farmland of Hami and Kunyu (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). The difference were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The distributions in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest and farmland could be ascribed to lower soil bulk density, higher soil total porosity and capillary porosity in forest compared with farmland. The explanations were supported by our previous mentioned results (Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). The results were in accord with the early observation from Zhang et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR78\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021b\u003c/span\u003e) that the soil capillary water capacity, field capacity, and soil saturation water capacity in forest understory were higher than those in farmland, and farmland mainly increases the soil total porosity by increasing the noncapillary porosity, thereby promoting the infiltration of water during irrigation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe showed that soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. In first, the results also was related to higher soil bulk density, lower soil total porosity and capillary porosity in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. Additionally, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were affected by soil type and climate. The explanation was supported by our observation that sand and silt contents were higher but clay contents were lower in Yukang, Hami and Kunyu compared with ILi. Yu et al., (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR75\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023b\u003c/span\u003e) found that under the similar climate, sand soil is more prone to occur agricultural drought than clay soils, while loam, loamy sand and sandy loam fell between these two soils. Sand, loam and loamy sand had the highest percentage of extremely agricultural drought, while clay showed the highest resistance to severe and extremely agricultural drought with high air temperature and low precipitation. Mohanty et al., (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e) indicated that soil texture and bulk density were significantly correlated with field capacity and wilting coefficient, hence, are suitable for development of pedotransfer functions to predict water content at field capacity and wilting coefficient.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient decreased at 0\u0026ndash;20 cm and 30\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth but increased at 20\u0026ndash;30 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results were consistent with our observation about changes in soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary along 0\u0026ndash;60 cm soil profiles. Therefore, variations in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient with increases of soil depth could be affected by tillage and periodic death of roots in surface soil, transportation of fine soil particles in subsurface soil and the plough pan in farmland and well-developed root systems of trees and weeds in deep soils (30\u0026ndash;50 cm).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eEffects of land use change on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity in different typical regions of Xinjiang\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn present study, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in forest were significantly higher than those in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Kunyu regardless of lower K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth in forest of Yukang, but was lower than that in farmland of Hami except for higher K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e at 0\u0026ndash;15 cm soil depth in forest of Hami. These results about K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami were attributed to the positive correlation of K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e with soil total porosity, capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, but a negative correlation with the bulk density (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.99, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) in this study. However, the K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in forest and farmland of Kunyu was positively related to soil total porosity, capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, but a negative correlation with the BD (R\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.99, P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) in this study. This explanation is supported by the result reported by Wu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e), in which K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e was an integrating parameter for several physical characteristics, such as the bulk density, porosity and soil particle composition. Our results were consistent with previous observations about the effect of the cultivation (Ehlers, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1975\u003c/span\u003e; Barnes and Ellis, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1979\u003c/span\u003e; Udom et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e), bulk density, porosity, and soil organic matter content (Assouline et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1997\u003c/span\u003e; Dec et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e) on K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFurthermore, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e were 31.03% vs 79.37% lower in forest vs farmland of Fukang but 103.45% vs 104.76% higher in forest vs farmland of Hami compared with ILi. However, soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e was 644.83% higher in forest but 68.25% lower in farmland along whole soil profile in Kunyu compared with ILi. The difference in soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e from forest and farmland among Yukang, ILi, Hami and Kunyu was attributed to integrated influences of soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest and farmland of those regions. The explanation was supported by our above mentioned reasons about soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient resulting from land use changes and different regions. We showed that soil K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e decreased from 0\u0026ndash;10 cm soil depth to 40\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth in forest and farmland of ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. The results also were integrated influences of soil bulk density, total porosity, capillary porosity, field capacity and wilting coefficient along soil profile in forest and farmland of those regions. The results about K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e in four typical gray desert soil regions of Xinjiang was supported by our previous results in the typical black soil region of Northeast China indicating that the organic matter, Ks, soil water content, capillary moisture capacity and field capacity decreased, but bulk density increased with soil depth at the eroding and non-erosion sites (Li et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021a\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003eb\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusions","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn present study, we addressed changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions to better understand how land use change influences agroecosystem hydrological processes of Xinjiang, China. The results demonstrated significant effects of conversion from desert to oasis, soil depth and their interaction on soil water content, soil bulk density, soil total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient, K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e. In general, soil water content in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis, but soil bulk density, soil total porosity, K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, capillary porosity, non-capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01), except for lower K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient in forest of Hami and Kunyu. The difference in soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu. In addition, soil total porosity, K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, capillary porosity, soil maximum water capacity, capillary water capacity, field capacity and wilting coefficient were significantly lower but soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity was higher in forest and farmland of Yukang, Hami and Kunyu, compared with ILi. Our results indicated that land use change could significantly influence agroecosystem hydrological processes of Xinjiang, China, in particular conversion from desert to oasis.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch3\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42267041), the Tianchi Talent Program of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (CZ002304), and the Programs from Shihezi University (CXBJ202205 and 2022CK009).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAdditional Information\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWen Yue, Shihezi University, E-mail: [email protected]\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eConflict of interest: \u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAkinde BP, Olakayode AO, Oyedele DJ, Tijani FO (2020) Selected physical and chemical properties of soil under different agricultural land-use types in Ile-Ife. 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Sci Rep 11:9692. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88914-0\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1038/s41598-021-88914-0\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"conversion form desert to oasis, soil physical properties, soil hydraulic properties, forest, farmland","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cdiv id=\"ASec1\" class=\"AbstractSection\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Heading\"\u003eAims\u003c/div\u003e \u003cp\u003eConverting desert to oases agricultural land generally improved soil structure and local ecology and increased grain yield in arid and semi-arid regions. The present study aims to present how soil physical and hydraulic properties respond to the conversion from desert to oases agricultural land.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"ASec2\" class=\"AbstractSection\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Heading\"\u003eMethods\u003c/div\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe compared soils between forest and farmland which were established in the same time in four typical regions (i.e., ILi, Yukang, Hami and Kunyu) of Xinjiang. Soil samples were collected from 0\u0026ndash;50 cm soil depth to measure soil water content (SWC), bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), capillary porosity (CP) and non-capillary porosity (NCP), maximum water capacity (MWC), capillary water capacity (CWC), field capacity (FC) and wilting coefficient (WC), K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"ASec3\" class=\"AbstractSection\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Heading\"\u003eResults\u003c/div\u003e \u003cp\u003eSWC in forest were significantly lower than those in farmland of four typical regions after converting desert to oasis, but BD, TP, K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, CP, NCP, MWC, CWC, FC and WC in forest were significantly higher than in farmland of ILi, Yukang and Hami, except for lower K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, MWC, CWC, FC and WC in forest of Hami and Kunyu. The difference in MWC, CWC, FC and WC were greater from forest and farmland with increasing soil depths in four typical regions. In addition, TP, K\u003csub\u003es\u003c/sub\u003e, CP, MWC, CWC, FC and WC were significantly lower but BD and NCP was higher in forest and farmland of other regions, compared with ILi.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"ASec4\" class=\"AbstractSection\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Heading\"\u003eConclusions\u003c/div\u003e \u003cp\u003eConversion from desert to oases agricultural land, soil depth and their interaction significantly affected agroecosystem hydrological processes in oasis regions of Xinjiang, China.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Changes in soil physical and hydraulic properties from forest and farmland after converting desert to oasis in four typical regions of Xinjiang, China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-20 14:01:09","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6731614/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"56f3cead-9327-4601-9daf-8b78853a44d2","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 20th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-31T21:27:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-20 14:01:09","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6731614","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6731614","identity":"rs-6731614","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}