A field guide for evaluation of erosion risk in olive orchards under contrasting environmental and management conditions.

Abstract

Olive is one of the dominant crops in the Mediterranean basin, although is also an expanding crop in other areas of the World with similar climate type (Camposeo and Gómez, 2023). Olive trees are cultivated in arid and semi-arid areas, and this has resulted in a management strategy oriented towards limited vegetative ground cover to improve water availability for the crop. This fact, combined with cultivation in sloping areas and periodic high-intensity rainfall events, has led to high erosion rates in many olive-growing areas (Milgroom et al., 2007; Camposeo and Gómez, 2023).  Implementation of appropriate soil management and strategies for erosion control relies on an adequate appraisal of the erosion intensity, processes and the relationship between soil management and environmental (soil, climate…) conditions by stakeholders. Evaluation of water erosion risk at the farm level is usually a complex process based on modelling approaches and it is not appealing to end-users who need simpler and easier-to-understand tools. There are successful examples of tools for appraisal erosion risk at farm level in olives trees, like the one of Milgroom et al. (2006, 2007). However, the implementation of these tools is limited to some management practices and region in which they were developed (e.g. organic olive orchards in southern Spain, Milgroom et al., 2006). Within the context of the TUdi project, there is on-going research to develop generalized versions for appraising erosion risk in woody crops in contrasting environments and management strategies (Gómez et al., 2023). This communication will show the complete version of a field tool for appraising water erosion risk in olive groves, valid for all olive-growing areas, developed in cooperation with projects SCALE, TUdi, ECOMED and BIOLIVAR. It is based on a dual approach combining erosion risk estimation from basic farm and management features, based on simplified RUSLE factors (Renard et al., 1997) combined with erosion symptoms. In this communication, the theoretical basis of the tool and its calibration, and the interpretation of the results based on several examples across the contrasting areas will be presented. With this approach, this tool aims to achieve these objectives:1- To provide a standardized tool valid across multiple environments and cropping conditions to evaluate water erosion risk in olive cultivation.2- To develop an educational tool to provide training on prevention water erosion in olive orchards. Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the projects SCALE (EJP Soil Horizon 2020 GA 862695), ECOMED (PR.AVA23.INV202301.035), GOPO-SE-20-0002 (EIP-Agri), TUdi (Horizon 2020, GA 101000224) and PID2019-105793RB-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation).