Evaluation of Soil Quality and Analysis of Barriers of Protection Forests along Tarim Desert Highway Based on a Minimum Data Set

To gain a thorough grasp of the soil quality conditions in the preservation forests along the Tarim Desert Highway, a detailed assessment of the research area’s soil quality is necessary, along with the identification of any potential obstacles. This evaluation should identify any potential obstacles and provide a theoretical basis for the sustainable utilization and precise management of protection forest soils. This paper examines the protection forest along the Tarim Desert Highway as the study area. To characterize the features of the soil quality, thirteen indicators of the chemical, physical, and biological composition of the soil were examined. The principal component analysis method was used to construct the minimum dataset (MDS) for soil quality evaluation. The diagnostic model for obstacle factors was combined with the MDS to explore the soil quality characteristics and obstacle factors in the study region. The findings indicated that (1) the constructed indexes of the MDS of protection forest soil in the study area included soil ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N); quick-acting phosphorus (AvP); organic carbon (SOC); alkaline phosphatase (AP); and total salt (SS); (2) soil quality based on the MDS and the total dataset (TDS) showed a significant positive correlation (R² = 0.748; <i>p</i> < 0.05), and the research region’s soil quality were all in the medium and below level (100% of SQI ≤ 0.6), showing the status quo of high soil quality in the two ends of the shelterbelt forest and the tower center area, while the other areas were relatively low; (3) according to the findings of the soil barrier analysis, the two main obstacles influencing the soil quality of the shelterbelt forest at this time are NH₄⁺-N and SOC, and that the soil quality of the shelterbelt forest could be improved by artificially increasing the inputs of nutrients and precise conservation measures, promoting the overall function of artificial protective forests on desert highways. In addition to providing a solid scientific foundation for the sustainable use and maintenance of shelterbelt forests along the Tarim Desert Highway, this study is also an invaluable resource for researching the soil quality of artificial shelterbelt forests in arid regions.