Abstract: Mechanical sand barrier is one of the important engineering measures for blown sand control. Effects of HDPE sand barrier and Straw sand barrier, set in different years in Shapotou and Diaopoliang located on the southeast edge of Tengger Desert, on vegetation growth and soil nutrients were measured.The results indicated that the index of species diversity of vegetation in the two barriers was lower and increased with the increase of sand barrier disposition time. The HDPE sand barrier had a higher diversity index than the grass grid barrier;the number of species in the HDPE sand barrier deployed in 2012 and 2010 was bigger than the that in the grass barrier.The two kinds of sand barrier settings made the pH value of soil decrease generally, the pH value of grass grid barrier was lower than that of HDPE sand barrier.The contents of total nitrogen, organic carbon, available potassium and available phosphorus in soils of sand barrier (0-5 cm) increased, and within 0-40 cm, the nutrient content of surface soil was higher than other soil layers, but there was no significant difference in the nutrient contents of topsoil between the two sand barriers.

Key words: HDPE sand barrier, straw-checker sand barrier, vegetation, soil nutrient