* Author for correspondence. Email: zhangjianfeng66@hotmail.com Forestry Studies in China, 6(2): 27–33 Agroforestry and its Application in Amelioration of Saline Soils in Eastern China Coastal Region Zhang Jianfeng 1* Xing Shangjun 1 Li Jiyue 2 F. Makeschin 3 Song Yumin 1 1 Shandong Academy of Forestry, Jinan 250014, P. R. China 2 Colleage of Resources and Environment, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, P. R. China 3 Institute of Soil Science, Dresden University of Technology, D-01735 Tharandt, Germany ABSTRACT Some environmental problems, especially soil salinity hinder the regional sustainable development of eastern China coastal region. Salinity mainly comes from tide weave, seawater flooding and seawater intrusion. Over exploitation of groundwater, which is the result of unfitful land use systems, leads to seawater intrusion and salt concentration increase. Agroforestry systems can enrich soil fertility and prevent soil salinization, furthermore help maintain biodiversity and enhance productivity. For the intergrated multiple ecosystems the most critical issue is to select optimum tree species and rationally arrange these plants. The basics of this multiple ecosystem is that different plants will occupy variable ecological niches within an area, both in space and in soil depth. Shelterbelts and trees intercropping with agricultural crops are major types of the multiple ecosystem. Shelterbelts can reduce wind speed and consequently lessen evaporation and erosion of the soil, increase pasture growth by up to 60% on exposed sites, increase crop yields by up to 25%. Besides intercropping with jujube, other agroforestry multiple ecosystem such as forestry plus agriculture, forestry plus agriculture plus fishery, and forestry plus animal husbandry are the most appropriate ways to utilise land resource in this region. KEY WORDS agroforestry, saline soil, amelioration [This research is a part of the German-Chinese Project of Agroforestry in Coastal Region, supported by the BMBF] Eastern China coastal region here includes Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Fujian Province. Thanks to the geographyical location and climatic conditions, in this region economy is relatively developed compared with the other areas in China. However on the other hand population density is quite high, e.g. in Zhejiang Province there are 480 people per km 2 , while it is averagely 74 in the whole country. With population growth and soci-economic development, the problem of environmental degradation is getting serious, such as pollution, noise, salinization, and drought (Zhang 2001). Of which salinization is a critical issue in terms of expanding population and limited land in the region (Makeschin et al. 2001, Zhang and Li 2002). Agroforestry is an important strategy to cope with salinization (Zhong 1998). The benefits created by agroforestry practices are significant in the viewpoint of economic and environmental. Agroforestry can increase farm profitability in several ways: 1) the total output per unit area of tree/crop/livestock combinations is more than any single component alone (Marcar et al. 1999); 2) crops and livestock protected from the damaging effects of wind are more productive (Zhang 1997a). Agroforestry helps to conserve and protect natural resources by, for example, controlling soil erosion, and creating wildlife habitat (Qureshi et al. 1998). The benefits of agroforestry add up to a substantial improvement of the economic and resource sustainability of agriculture (Zhong 1996, 1998). 1 Salinity sources and salinization process in the region TABLE 1 NaCl distribution with tide weave in lands Measurement spot Distance to sea /m NaCl content in water /(g·mL –1 ) NaCl content in pine needle /(mg·g –1 ) 1 100 0.182 5.76 2 300 0.097 3.17 3 500 0.074 1.69 4 700 0.038 1.71 5 900 0.039 0.42 Saline soils discussed here cover coastal solonchak, beach solonchak and coastal salinized meadow. Salinity in coastal soils comes mainly from 3 sources: 1) seawater directly goes to land with tide, and salts permeate the ground; 2) salts move from sea to soil with wind especially typhoon and seep into the ground, one example is given in Table 1 to describe the effect (Li and Xing 1994); 3) seawater intruds owing to ground water is over exploited and ground watertable