Degree of compactness and soil quality of peach orchards with different production ages

Abstract

Peach production is of great economic importance to Brazil. In 2020, over 201 ton of the fruit was harvested in the country, generating a production value of approximately R$456 million. In order to enhance peach productivity, it is necessary to improve soil physical quality in the orchards. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of compactness, water infiltration rate, as well as perform the visual evaluation of soil structure (VESS) in different sampling positions of three peach producing commercial orchards of different ages in southern Brazil. The results showed that the rows of the orchards had lower values of degree of compactness, soil structural quality score (Sq) and higher infiltration rate, and differed from the interrow and wheeled interrow sampling positions. Regarding orchard age, there was no difference between then. The use of cover crops, maintenance of spontaneous plants in the interrows and the branches from the yearly pruning placed on the interrows, harvesting manually, and opting for using a compact tractor, may be contributing to avoid soil compaction and probably soil erosion, and maintaining soil physical quality in the wheeled interrow and interrow, even in the older orchards. The degree of compactness, soil structural quality score and water infiltration are aligned with each other and with bulk density, macroporosity and total porosity, and were good indicators to identify differences in soil structure in the orchards.