Impacts of farmland conversion to apple (Malus domestica) orchard on soil organic carbon stocks and enzyme activities in a semiarid loess region

Land‐use change often affects the sizes of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and the activities of soil enzymes. Responses of relevant soil quality indices caused by farmland conversion to orchard are largely unknown in the semiarid loess regions. This study was conducted at orchard sites, which have been under very intensive cultivation, to evaluate the impacts of farmland conversion to apple (Malus domestica) orchard on SOC stocks and soil enzyme activities in the semiarid loess region of Weibei, Shaanxi province, China. The spatial and temporal changes in a variety of soil quality indices were measured for the 0–100 cm soil profile in apple orchards of three age groups (< 10 y, juvenile; 10–15 y, mature; > 15 y, over‐mature) and adjacent farmlands (control). After farmland conversion, total SOC (TOC) content and density and soil alkaline phosphatase activity significantly decreased, while soil catalase activity increased for the 0–100 cm soil profile. The labile SOC (LOC) content, its proportion to TOC content, and carbon management index (CMI, changes in the total content and lability of SOC) significantly increased in the 0–40 cm soil layer, whereas soil urease and invertase activities only increased in the 0–20 cm layer (P < 0.05). With increasing age of apple orchards, SOC stocks significantly increased after 10 y, being more than 10% larger in mature and over mature orchards than in adjacent farmlands. The LOC content and CMI value also had an increasing trend, while soil enzyme activities showed different response patterns. There were significant correlations between soil enzyme activities, SOC fractions, and CMI value (P < 0.05). We concluded that farmland conversion to apple orchard affected soil quality by reducing SOC stocks in the soil profile and changing SOC content as well as soil enzyme activities at various depth intervals. Long‐term apple cultivation was effective to restore SOC stocks, although it took over a decade to rebuild a new increasing trend after farmland conversion.