The comprehensive evaluation of farmland soil environmental quality and suggestions on the development of agriculture with distinctive local features in Tumed Left Banner, Inner Mongolia

Land is an important basic resource for human survival and stable social and economic development, and cultivated land is an integral part of land resources. Ascertaining the quality of cultivated land is of great significance for the scientific and rational utilization of cultivated land and the sustainable development of green ecological agriculture. Using the methods for 1:50,000 geochemical survey and evaluation, this study conducted the quality evaluation and the classification of land in the study area based on the contents of beneficial nutrient elements and toxic and harmful elements in soils and analyzed the distribution and controlling factors of elements in soils. The results of this study are as follows. The soils in the study area consist mainly of alluvial-proluvial deposits from the Yellow River and are primarily used for agriculture and animal husbandry. The soils are not contaminated by heavy metals and are rich in nutrients, with the first- and second-grade excellent soils collectively accounting for 88.85%. Moreover, most soils in the study area have moderate selenium content. Therefore, it is recommended that selenium-rich land resources should be incorporated into the government land planning to develop agriculture with distinctive local features.