About the Authors

Zeeshan Ahmed

Contributed equally to this work with: Zeeshan Ahmed, Junhe Liu

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

liujunhe@huanghuai.edu.cn (JL); zeeshanagronomist@yahoo.com (ZA); guidwei@ms.xjb.ac.cn (DG)

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Junhe Liu

Contributed equally to this work with: Zeeshan Ahmed, Junhe Liu

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology

liujunhe@huanghuai.edu.cn (JL); zeeshanagronomist@yahoo.com (ZA); guidwei@ms.xjb.ac.cn (DG)

Affiliation College of Biological and Food Engineering, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan, China

Ejaz Ahmad Waraich

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology

Affiliation Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Yan Yan

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliation College of Biological and Food Engineering, Huanghuai University, Zhumadian, Henan, China

Zhiming Qi

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Saitne-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada

Dongwei Gui

Roles Writing – review & editing

liujunhe@huanghuai.edu.cn (JL); zeeshanagronomist@yahoo.com (ZA); guidwei@ms.xjb.ac.cn (DG)

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China

Fanjiang Zeng

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China

Akash Tariq

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Muhammad Shareef

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Hassan Iqbal

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Ghulam Murtaza

Roles Data curation

Affiliation Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

Zhihao Zhang

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystem, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang, China, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Root Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.