Abstract:Long-term fertilization experiment was carried out in typical red paddy soil in Qiyang county, Hunan province from 1975 to 2008. The application rates of sulphur in the three treatments ［None S(NS), Low S(LS) and High S(HS)］ were 0, 112 and 604 kg/(ha·a), and the same amounts of N, P and K were applied to each treatment. The experiment was used to study the effects of applying sulphur-containing chemical fertilizers on paddy field ecological environment by observing and analyzing the change of nutrient contents of C, N, P, K and S and their distributions in 0—100 cm soil layers after the 33 year fertilization. The results show that soil SO2-4-S contents are increased and accumulated significantly after applying the sulphur fertilizers, and the average contents of SO2-4-S in 0—100 cm soil layers are increased by 85.6% and 12.8% under the high S and low S treatments compared with the none S treatment, respectively. The contents of organic matter, total N and total P in tillage soils are also increased by 17.6%, 25.6% and 250.0% under the high S treatment compared with those at the beginning of the experiment in 1975. The increased rates of soil organic matter under applying sulphur fertilizers are higher, and organic matter in tillage soil is increased 11.5% under the high S treatment compared with the none S treatment. Because of the significant effects of applying sulphur fertilizers on improvement of soil fertility, such as increasing organic matter and other nutrients, sulphur-containing fertilizers should be applied for agriculture production, especially in the red soil regions of southern China where sulphur is often deficient.