Community productivity and soil carbon sequestration after Melilotus officinalis and Medicago falcata reseeding on degraded grassland

Land usage is an important aspect for human influence on carbon process. The impact of land usage on the sequestration of carbon is one of the most important domains to global change research. The main objective of this study was to identify the effects of reseeding on soil carbon sequestration in degraded grassland. The effects of reseeding on community composition, community productivity and soil carbon sequestration in the degraded grassland were discussed. Carbon storage and productivity significantly increased (P0.05) in reseeding community compared with degraded community. The carbon storage of reseeding community increased in the followding order: Phragmites australisChloris virgataLeymus chinensisMelilotus suaveolensMedicago falcate. The productivity of different reseeding community increased with the following order: C.virgataP.australisM.falcateL.chinensisM.suaveolens. Soil organic carbon was vertical distribution in the profile of soil which decreased with the depth increased. There was significant difference between communities. Our results suggested that reseeding increased the productivity of the degrade grassland and the soil carbon storage. The study demonstrated that reseeding was a valuable and feasible approach to improve the carbon sequestration of degraded grassland.