Effects of different amendments on the yield of Rheum officinale Baill. and rhizospheric soil fertility under continuous cropping system

【Objective】The aim of this study was to learn the effects of different amendments on the yield of Rheum officinale Baill. and rhizospheric soil fertility. The results would provide a scientific basis for promoting the healthy development of the R. officinale industry.【Method】Organic matter(OM), calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer(CMP) and quicklime(QL) were as amendments, and control(CK) applied no amendments. R. officinale yield and rhizospheric soil pH, nutrient content and ecological stoichiometric characteristics of different treatments were analyzed, the principal component analysis(PCA) was used to evaluate the rhizospheric soil fertility of R. officinale under continuous cropping.【Result】Application of all three amendments could increase the yield of continuous cropping R. officinale. The OM and CMP treatments significantly increased the yield of R. officinale by 75.37% and 42.62%, respectively, compared with the CK(P<0.05, the same below). The OM and QL treatments significantly increased the soil pH by 9.13% and 7.34% compared with the CK. Moreover, OM and CMP treatments significantly increased the rhizospheric soil nutrient contents, among them, organic matter, total nitrogen, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, total phosphorus and available phosphorus contents increased by 7.45%, 8.40%, 15.93%, 8.27%, 31.05% and 11.22%, 7.56%, 15.01%, 14.22%, 38.46%, respectively, compared with the CK. The total phosphorus and available phosphorus contents under QL treatment were increased by 8.10% and 8.83%, respectively, compared with the CK. The C:N, C:P, N:P, C:K, N:K and P:K ratios of R. officinale rhizosphere soil were 7.77-8.11, 14.35-15.62, 1.88-2.00, 1.26-1.42, 0.16-0.18 and 0.08-0.09 under different amendment treatments. The PCA results showed that the ordination of integrated soil fertility index under different amendment treatments followed the order of CMP(1.36) > OM(1.19) > QL(-0.99) > CK(-1.56).【Conclusion】Three amendments have certain yield promotion effect on the continuous cropping of R. officinale, and can effectively improve its physicochemical properties of the rhizosphere soil. And the promotion effects of the three amendments follow the order of CMP > OM > QL.