On the physical chemical and soil microbial properties of soils in the habitat of wild Ferula in Xinjiang
新疆野生多伞阿魏生境土壤理化性质和土壤微生物

Wild Ferula, a rare wild medicinal plant in Xinjiang, are declining sharply in recent years, with some species even on the verge of extinction. In addition to the known human causes (such as a large number of land clearing, over-excavation, etc.), we want to know whether it is relate to the natural environment. Hence in this paper, taking wild Ferula growing in the southern Junggar Basin as the research object, the physical, chemical and soil microbial properties of soils in its habitats were studied. Results show that the physical environment of wild Ferula was very poor. The soil pH was high and varied from 8.50 to 10.38, belonging to alkaline and strongly alkaline soil, which is very unfavorable for nutrients absorption. The soil moisture contents were very low, from1.94% to 4.33%, so that water may be a very important ecological factor limiting population distribution. The soil nutrient was very poor in wild Ferula's growth habitat. Some essential elements of Ferula were deadly short and most of them varied significantly in different areas and soil layers. The available nitrogen contents were between 7.18 and 38.01mg/kg, decreasing rapidly with the soil depths. The available phosphorus contents were between 1.65 and 7.79mg/kg, also decreasing with the increase of soil depth. The topsoil ranks level 4, phosphorus deficient soil; 10-20cm layer is more phosphorus deficient, and below 20cm is even worse. The available K contents were from 140.7 to 363.78mg/kg, with the top layers as a K rich layer. The Organic matter contents were between 5.47 and 13.89g/kg, Most of the plots belong to relatively shortage range, with some below the standard of lacking. Bacteria were dominant species, about 1.5 to 2 times more than actinomycetes and 60 to 80 times more than fungi. The average numbers of microbial organisms per gram were: bacteria 1.75×105, actinomycetes 1.04×105, fungi 2.65×103. Most bacteria lived in surface soil layer (0-10cm). There is hardly any change below 10cm. However, most of actinomycetes and fungi lived in middle soil layer (10-20cm and 20-30cm). All of these showed that Ferula, a valuable and rare medicinal plant, gradually became a rare or endangered species, mainly because of its poor habitat, in addition to human factors. More research is needed to study whether it is related to the plants themselves.