Effects of Graphene oxide plus external bacterial agents accelerate poplar leaf-litter decomposition in saline–alkali soil

Guibin Ma^1*乔俊 Qiao¹jiahao liu²xianbo He²Xiaokang Chen^2*Jianguo Zhao^2*

• ¹School of Coal Engineering Shanxi Datong University, Datong, China
• ²Shanxi Datong University, Datong, China

Poplar trees and saline-alkali soil occur in northern China, especially around the Datong district in north Shanxi. To utilize this kind of soil, it is important to know how to neutralize saline-alkali soil and understand how poplar leaves decompose in saline-alkali soil media. Graphene oxide (GO) is widely known for its effect on improving the soil nutrient contents, liking soils of agriculture and forestry. Here we examined of the effect of graphene oxide composite plus the addition of external bacterial agents on the decomposition of poplar leaves in saline-alkali soil media. A litterbag method was used, and the content analysis was conducted of both from residue of litter and the used for decomposed soil at different sampling time. Overall, the contents of humus from the leaf litter decomposed soil gradually increase over time. Meanwhile the total nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonium nitrogen, available pzhihuotassium, and most of the phosphorus content showed a trend of first slightly decreasing and then gradually increasing. Nutrient concentrations, as well as that of humus in the soil reach their maximum after 120 days with the addition of both optimized amounts of 25.0 mg/L GO and of microbial agents. We concluded that combination GO and microbial agents promote soil enzyme activity and accelerate litter decomposition with the highest enzyme activity when both 25.0 mg/L GO and bacteria are present in the saline-alkali soil.