| Continuous cropping practice (CCP) affects soil physical and chemical properties, vegetation growth and yield. However, few study were conducted on cotton. Elucidation of CCP effects is of importance for the sustainable cotton production in North Xinjiang. Field experiments were conducted on cotton fields with 5 a, 8 a, 12 a, and 15a cropping durations. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0～30 cm. Soil properties such as soil bulk density (BD), organic matter (OM), available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorous (AP),available potassium (AK), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), and total potassium (TK) were measured, and microflora were investigated. The results showed that BD had no consistent temporal patterns of variation across all treatments. AP, TK, and TN progressively decreased with growth stage, while OM and AK did not show the same trends until after 8a CCP. CCP had negative effects on soil microflora. The number of microflora decreased by 40.1%, 46.7%, and 52.4% after 8 a, 12 a and 15 a CCP, respectively. Furthermore, the number of bacteria and actinomycetes decreased whereas the fungi increased as growth stage progressed. The ratios of bacteria to fungi (B/F) and actinomycetes to fungi (A/F) showed a diminishing trend, indicating the degradation in soil fertility by continuous cropping. |