Pot experiment research on the effects of water retaining agent and activated carbon as soil amendments for plant growing on dolomitic rocky desertification slopes

This paper analyses the characteristics of geotechnical fabric on dolomite slope and proposes a new method about using water retaining agent and activated carbon for improving dolomite soil which have serious water and fertilizer leakage problems. The results show that， (1) Using absorbent agent can significantly reduce the soil water leakage and increase the vegetation biomass. When the content of absorbent agent is 0.5%, the total biomass increased by 51.2% compared to the treatment which do not adding absorbent agent; while the absorbent agent's content is up to 1%, the total biomass can increased to 111.2%. (2) In the same condition of adding absorbent agent content of 0.5%, the total biomass growth significantly with the increasing of activated carbon content. The total biomass increased by 31.2% when adding 3% of activated carbon than the treatment without carbon; and the total biomass increased by 78.6% when the activated carbon treatment adding up to 5%. This preliminary result demonstrates the feasibility of using activated carbon may reduce the leakage of nutrients and promote vegetation growing. (3)The vegetation biomass increase remarkably after the soil amendment by using both of water retaining agent and activated carbon at the same time. The total biomass increased by 101.2% when adding the content of 0.5% absorbent agent and content of 5% activated carbon compared to the original dolomite soil without any treatment (CK). The ground biomass and underground biomass increased by 90.9% and 205.8 %, respectively. This study probably provide a new resolution for improving land productivity, vegetation restoration and land development or utilization on dolomite slopes on karst rocky desertification area.