Objective  Applications of cattle and sheep manures for fertilization on soda saline-alkali soil in western Jilin Province were compared.

  Methods  Started in 2017 a field experiment for the fertilization study was carried out on a typical soda saline-alkali land in Zhenlai County, Baicheng City, Jilin Province. Three treatments including control and the uses of cattle or sheep dung on the randomly selected lots were designed to generate information on the pH, total soluble salts, exchangeable sodium content, cation exchange capacity, and organic carbon content in soil for the comparison.

  Results   The application of either cow or sheep manure had no significant effect on soil pH, particle size distribution and mean weight diameter of water-stable aggregates. However, cow manure rose the total organic carbon, water-soluble organic carbon, and humus carbon by 27.2%, 55.6%, and 36.8%, respectively, while sheep manure 52.8%, 122%, and 82.1%, respectively. Both applications significantly increased the organic carbon in the water-stable aggregates. However, the total salt, exchangeable sodium, cation exchange capacity, total organic carbon, water-soluble organic carbon, humic acid carbon, humus carbon, water-stable agglomeration body, and ratios of alkyl/aromatic carbon, alkyl/alkoxy carbon, and hydrophobic/hydrophilic carbon were higher, but the alkalinity, and alkoxy/carboxyl carbon and aliphatic/aromatic carbon ratios lower, in the soil fertilized with sheep manure than cow manure.

  Conclusion  The application of cow or sheep manure increased the contents and enriched the components of organic carbons and also improved the quality of organic matters in soil. It did not significantly alter the soil structure in the short term, however. Sheep dung was more effective in ameliorating the soil degradation and in increasing the soil organic carbon, whereas cow manure more conducive to improving the quality of organic matters. Thus, using both materials simultaneously could maximize the effect on soda saline-alkali soil.