Abstract:The effects of planting of Caragana Fabr. on vegetation, microbial community and characteristics and changes in soil nutrients of saline\|alkali wasteland were investigated in Maozao Experimental Station located in Datong Basin (113°E，39°55′N), Shanxi Province, China. After the planting of Caragana, the number of plant families, genus and species increased, indicating that the improvement of plant diversity, and vegetation profile underwent changes. Elymus dahuicus had been the absolute dominant species on saline\|alkali wasteland but disappeared in Caragana\|distributed lands, showing an alteration in dominant species in the community. The number of fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes in soils of different habitats showed a trend as follows: perennial Caragana Fabr. forest > Caragana forest after fire disturbance > Saline\|alkali. The largest number of fungi were found in Caragana rhizosphere in comparison to other plants, but there was no obvious increase in the bacteria and actinomycetes found. Total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content remained essentially unchanged in areas with perennial Caragana compared to the primary saline\|alkali wasteland. However, available nutrients in Caragana\|distributed land increase significantly, with phosphorus, potassium, nitrate, ammonia nitrogen and organic matter increasing by 3.4 times, 1.4 times, 1.2 times, 1.4 times and 1.7 times, respectively compared to those of the saline\|alkali wasteland. Furthermore, the total salt content of soil in Caragana Fabr. forest was significantly lower than that of the soil from saline\|alkali wasteland (p<0.01). There was significant increase in content of available Fe, Mn, Zn in Caragana Fabr. forest compared to saline\|alkali wasteland soil (p<0.05). From the results, we conclude that growing of Caragana exerts positive effects on fertility preserving capacity of soil and helps improve ecological function of soil to provide better environment for other plant species in saline\|alkali wasteland.