Abstract
The efficiency of a wheat-poplar agroforestry system was investigated in order to assess nutrient and pesticide uptake in an experimental plot located in Athens, Greece, during the spring–summer cultivating period of 2017. Soil sampling was performed on a monthly basis and the monitored pollutants were NO3−–N, NO2−–N, NH4+–N and PO43−–P ions, and the herbicides pendimethalin along with its metabolite M455H001, iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium and mesosulfuron-methyl-sodium. Soil analysis was performed using Liquid Chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and Ion Chromatography. The tested tree-crop system exhibited reductions of more than 80% and up to 100% for nutrients, whilst with regards to the examined herbicides and M455H001 metabolite, their lessening was more than 75% and up to 100% in the closest to the tree row points compared to the control point away from the trees. In conclusion, agroforestry alley cropping systems exhibit a potential for tree uptake of excess pesticides and nutrients and may act as a technique for pollution abatement, since tree roots that extend below the crops can uptake the excess of agrochemicals that would otherwise remain in soil or enter ground and surface waters.
Published Version
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