Abstract
Montado is an agro-silvo-pastoral system characterized by a high complexity as a result of the interactions between climate, soil, pasture, trees, and animals. It is in this context that management decisions must be made, for example with respect to soil fertilization, grazing, or animal supplementation. In this work, the effect of the tree canopy on the spatial and temporal variability of the soil and productivity, quality, and floristic composition of the pasture was evaluated. Precision agriculture (PA) technologies for monitoring soil and pasture were also evaluated. The study was carried out between October 2015 and June 2018 in an experimental field of 2.3 ha. The results showed: (i) The positive impact of trees and animal grazing on soil fertility; (ii) the influence of inter-annual variability of precipitation on the pattern of pasture vegetative cycle; (iii) the positive effect of trees in pasture quality; (iv) the negative effect of trees in pasture productivity; (v) the role of pasture floristic composition as an indicator of soil limitations or climatic changes; (vi) the potential of technologies associated with the concept of PA as express tools to decision making support and for the optimization of the herbaceous stratum and the dynamic management of grazing in this ecosystem in a holistic and sustainable form.
Highlights
The most significant agricultural system practiced on shallow and acidic soils of the south of Portugal is the agro-forestry-pastoral Montado system [1]
The results obtained in this study show the potential of three different tools for monitoring soil variability (Dualem 1S—electromagnetic induction sensor), pasture yield variability (Grassmaster II capacitance probe), and pasture quality variability (OptRx—optical active sensor)
Corwin and Lesch [21] and Sudduth et al [22] alert to some inconsistency in the relationship between electrical conductivity (ECa) and soil characteristics. These inconsistent relationships may be generated by the potentially complex interrelationships between ECa and soil properties and nutrient levels [23]. These results show that geospatial measurement of ECa is an efficient ground-based sensing technology that is helping to take management zones (MZ) from concept to reality [23]
Summary
The most significant agricultural system practiced on shallow and acidic soils of the south of Portugal is the agro-forestry-pastoral Montado system [1]. This system is characterized by a high complexity resulting from the interactions between climate, soil, pasture, trees, and animals [2]. Agronomy 2020, 10, 218 distribution of rainfall in the autumn, winter, and spring [6]. This variability assumes a spatial dimension at soil level [7]. The studies of Sales-Baptista et al [5,9] and Serrano et al [10], with the use of global positioning system (GPS) collars in sheep, have demonstrated the possibility of monitoring grazing preferences of the animals, their choices along the vegetative cycle, and proved the effect of grazing on the nutrient dynamics in the soil
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