Abstract:Soil quality assessment of the Aler oasis reclamation zone in the upper streams of the Tarim River was performed, taking into account integratedly 14 soil physico-chemical properties including soil water content, bulk density, pH, EC, total salt, organic matter, total N, alkalytic N, available P, available K, catalase, invertase, urease, and alkaline phosphatase, and using the minimum data set defined with the statistics method. And meanwhile comparative analysis was done of the soil quality assessment with the assessment without taking into account soil enzyme activity. Results show that (1) the minimum data set (MDS) suitable for use in the soil quality assessment of the oasis is composed of 4 indices, that is, soil water content, total salt, total N and catalase; (2) most of the cotton fields, newly reclaimed farmlands, orchards and woodlands, distributed in the riparian oasis region, are moderate or over in soil quality (SQI≧0.5 accounting for 78.12%); and (3) weight of total salt in the soil quality assessment without taking into account soil enzyme activity tends to be lower, which would lead to underassessment of the soil quality. This study may provide some references for regional soil resources utilization and decision-making for agricultural industry and ecological restoration.