Land Use Affects Soil Water Balance and Soil Desiccation within the Soil Profile: Evidence from the Western Loess Plateau Case

This study evaluated the properties of soil water dynamics and desiccation to a depth of 500 cm and tested the idea that land use affects soil drying in deep profiles. Four land use types were chosen: farmland, artificial forest and grassland, and abandoned land. Soil water content was most outstanding under long-term wheat fields, but average soil water content under artificial vegetation of Caragana korshinskii Kom. and alfalfa dropped to 6–8% within the 160–500 cm soil profile, very near to the 7.0% wilting point. Long-term continuous maize cultivation in a fully mulched ridge–furrow system significantly depleted soil water and resulted in a dried soil layer with a thickness of 240 cm. Short-term or long-term land abandonment enhanced soil reservoir and reduced soil water storage deficit degree compared to long-term maize and artificial vegetation. Soil water storage in the 160–500 cm soil profile was depleted by 240 and 464 mm under long-term maize and Caragana korshinskii Kom., respectively, by 267, 319, 381, and 463 mm under 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year alfalfa, and by −58, 278, 234, and 93 mm under 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year abandonment land, respectively, compared to long-term wheat. Based on the analysis of long-term experimental results, this study shows that the phenomenon of soil drying caused by long-term intensive maize production cannot be ignored in semi-arid areas and that natural re-vegetation under long-term abandonment, rather than artificial vegetation, may be the best type of vegetation reconstruction for this region based on soil water balances.