Effect of a novel constructed drainage ditch on the phosphorus sorption capacity of ditch soils in an agricultural headwater catchment in subtropical central China

Abstract

Plant vegetation has been reported to be one of the best management practices to control the transport of nutrient pollutants in agricultural drainage. In this study, soil samples were collected from a novel constructed drainage ditch (ND) vegetated with strips of Indica canna, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Sparganium stoloniferum, Myriophyllum aquaticum, and Juncus effusus, from an upstream ordinary agricultural drainage ditch (OD), and from an adjacent paddy field (PD), at the 0-5 and 5-15cm layers, to compare phosphorus (P) sorption capacity. In the ND, there was a great difference in the properties of ditch soils between at the 0-5cm and 5-15cm layers. For instance, total organic carbon (TOC) at..