Abstract:Anhui Province located in East China was selected and comparative study was done based on the data of soil nutrient contents obtained in the Second National Soil Survey and in 2010 and 2011 in order to explore change characteristics of soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) in the surface layer (0—20 cm) of cultivated land in the province and county scales during the period (1980—2010). Results showed that soil nutrients presented different change trends in the whole province from 1980 to 2010. The mean SOM and TP contents increased from 20.65 g/kg to 23.30 g/kg and from 0.58 g/kg to 0.71 g/kg, respectively, TN contents remained almost unchanged, while TK content decreased from 19.00 g/kg to 14.28 g/kg. Variation coefficient of all soil nutrients decreased with different degrees from 1980 to 2010. The distribution of nutrient content levels indicated an overall improvement of cultivated land fertility in the whole province, the proportion of high contents in SOM, TP and TN increased with different degrees. Spatially, the changes of soil nutrients varied in different land use types and geographic areas with different degrees, SOM and TN contents increased considerably in Huaibei plain and Yangtze plain, TP contents increased considerably in Huaibei plain and Southern hilly mountains, TK contents presented the similar change trend in all geographic areas. The change trends of soil nutrients in three typical counties were consistent with the change trend in the province scale, but soil nutrient contents increased with different degrees except TK in typical counties.