Eco-Physiological and Growth Behavior of Two Italian Olive Cultivars Under Two Soil Management Practices

Knowledge sharing and adoption behaviour: An imperative to promote sustainable soil use and management

Conservation agriculture (i.e., minimized soil disturbance and permanent soil covering) and living mulches represent two agroecological practices that can improve soil fertility, spontaneous flora, and beneficial insect communities. This research studied the effect of these practices in a young olive orchard in the Mediterranean area. Two Sicilian olive cultivars (‘Nocellara del Belice’ and ‘Nocellara etnea’) were used for the field experiment; inter-row minimum and zero tillage and four species of aromatic plants as living mulch along the row were tested. Spontaneous flora and beneficial insect communities, as well as tree growth, were monitored. The inter-row management did not influence the spontaneous flora dynamics. The species adopted for living mulch showed a very different degree of development and soil cover; 69 insect species (pollinators and predators) belonging to five orders (Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Neuroptera, and Coleoptera) and 17 families were recorded. The growth of the olive trees was not affected by the conservative strategies.: In the inter-row, the growth of the spontaneous flora was limited by the high temperatures during the summer. Among the living mulch species, sage and lemongrass guaranteed an almost full soil cover, reducing the need for weed management along the row, as well as increasing the beneficial insects without influencing the young tree growth.

Soil organic carbon (SOC), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water footprint (WF) are the key indicators of environmental sustainability in agricultural systems. Increasing SOC while reducing GHG emissions and WF are effective measures to achieve high crop productivity with minimum environmental impact (i.e. a multi-pronged approach of sustainable intensification (SI) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to achieve food security). In conventional agricultural systems, intensive soil tillage and removal of crop residues can lead to increase negative environmental impact due to reduce SOC, GHG emission and high water consumption. Conservation agriculture (CA) based conservation tillage systems (CTS) with crop residue retention is often suggested as a resource conserving alternative to increase crop productivity without compromising soil health and environmental sustainability of cereal cropping systems. The environmental impact of CTS in terms of SOC, WF and GHG emissions nonetheless remains understudied in Bangladesh. A two-year field experiment was carried out to evaluate the impacts of CTS with retention of crop residue on SOC accumulation, GHG emission and WF in wheat cultivation of Bangladesh. In the experiment, CTS such as zero tillage (ZT) and minimum tillage (MT) were compared with the conventional tillage (CT) practice. Result observed that the SOC accumulation in the soil was 0.11 t ha−1, 0.97 t ha−1, and 1.3 t ha−1 for CT, MT and ZT practices, respectively. A life cycle GHG emission estimation by farm efficiency analysis tool (FEAT) calculated 1987, 1992 and 2028 kg CO2eq ha−1 for ZT, MT and CT practices, respectively. Among the studied tillage options, lowest WF was achieved by MT (570.05 m3 t−1) followed by ZT (578.56 m3 t−1) and CT (608.85 m3 t−1). Since the results are in favor of CTS, this study recommends MT and ZT practice to reduce negative environmental externalities in wheat cultivation in Bangladesh. In comparison between the methods, the MT, which retains crop residue (20 cm), and involves principles of CA, is suitable for both CSA and SI of wheat cultivation in Bangladesh due to its ability to increase SOC accumulation, prevent both water loss, and GHG emission without compromising yield.

Advancements in soil management: Optimizing crop production through interdisciplinary approaches

Soil health and management matters: A survey of field tree nursery producers

<p>Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils is an important strategy to mitigate climate change which gained renewed attention in the EU soil strategy for 2030. Stimulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration can be achieved via soil management strategies. However, these strategies may stimulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) and methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) and cause nitrogen (N) losses via leaching. While these trade-offs can offset the intended climate change mitigation via SOC sequestration, synergistic (positive) effects of certain soil management strategies may positively affect the mitigation potential as well. Despite the major importance of these trade-offs and synergies for the selection of sustainable and climate-proof soil management strategies, knowledge on the understanding of these effects remains limited.</p><p>In the Framework of Horizon 2020 – European Joint Programme SOIL, the ∑OMMIT-project aims to investigate the trade-offs and synergies for the most relevant soil management strategies applied in European agricultural systems. A dedicated literature study was made by eight agricultural research institutes across Europe, summarizing the results of reviews, meta-analyses, reports and original articles. The most important soil management strategies were identified and grouped into four categories: tillage management, cropping systems, water management, and fertilization and organic matter (OM) inputs (crop residues, cover crop, livestock manure, slurry, compost, biochar, liming). Search criteria including literature and land use type, time-period, and geographic origin resulted in a unique selection of 110 references (31 reviews, 46 meta-analyses, and 33 original papers). Meta-data, extracted knowledge gaps, research recommendations and main conclusions were compiled in a knowledge gap review which allows for better insight in existing trade-offs and synergies and provides guidance to future research.</p><p>This review highlights that the increase of both SOC stock change and the microbial biomass C and N, as well as the reduction in N leaching are positively affected by conservation tillage, crop rotation, permanent cropping, more efficient water management as well as using fertilization and OM inputs (e.g., cover crops, organic amendments, biochar, and liming). The effects on the N<sub>2</sub>O and CH<sub>4</sub> emission mitigation are dependent on the specific soil management strategy (e.g., water management, fertilization and OM inputs) and require more research to allow to define (uniform) conclusions.</p><p>In conclusion, more dedicated research is needed for the soil management strategies that simultaneously examines SOC stocks, GHG emissions, and N leaching losses. Furthermore, we identified a lack of information on the impact of pedoclimatic conditions, specifically on the longer-term, on trade-offs and synergies. A more concerted use and installation of new long-term field experiments in different pedo-climatic European regions, seems essential for a comprehensive understanding of the impact of soil management strategies at the European level. Further, since soil management strategies are often combined and their interaction may affect the trade-offs and synergies, the impact of different soil management practices should be assessed simultaneously. Overall, the review provides a unique framework to aid the (re)design of dedicated field experiments and targeted measurements as well as simulations to improve our understanding of the identified knowledge gaps.</p>

The work aimed to discriminate among different soil management treatments in terms of beneficial effects by high-resolution thermal and spectral vegetation imagery using an unmanned aerial vehicle and open-source GIS software. Five soil management treatments were applied in two organic vineyards (cv. Sangiovese) from Chianti Classico terroir (Tuscany, Italy) during two experimental years. The treatments tested consisted of conventional tillage, spontaneous vegetation, pigeon bean (Vicia faba var. minor Beck) incorporated in spring, mixture of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and clover (Trifolium squarrosum L.) incorporated or left as dead mulch in late spring. The images acquired remotely were analyzed through map-algebra and map-statistics in QGIS and correlated with field ecophysiological measurements. The surface temperature, crop water stress index (CWSI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each vine row under treatments were compared based on frequency distribution functions and statistics descriptors of position. The spectral vegetation and thermal-based indices were significantly correlated with the respective leaf area index (R2 = 0.89) and stem water potential measurements (R2 = 0.59), and thus are an expression of the crop vigor and water status. The gravel and active limestone soil components determined the spatial variability of vine biophysical (e.g., canopy vigor) and physiological characteristics (e.g., vine chlorophyll content) in both farms. The vine canopy surface temperature, and CWSI were lower on the spontaneous and pigeon bean treatments in both farms, thus evidencing less physiological stress on the vine rows derived from the cover crop residual effect. In conclusion, the proposed methodology showed the capacity to discriminate across soil management practices and map the spatial variability within vineyards. The methodology could serve as a simple and non-invasive tool for precision soil management in rainfed vineyards to guide producers on using the most efficient and profitable practice.

ISHS XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): Olive Trends Symposium - From the Olive Tree to Olive Oil: New Trends and Future Challenges POSSIBLE ROLE OF MANNITOL AS AN OXYGEN RADICAL SCAVENGER IN OLIVE

Improved productivity requires informed decisions on a number of issues including crop, water, soil and financial risk management. In this paper, we use some case-study examples to illustrate how crop simulation models can be used to analyze the threats and opportunities arising from climate variability, climate change, and market variation for a focus crop at selected locations. We then demonstrate how this analysis can be coupled with site-specific soil information to inform soil and crop management strategies so that crop yield potential can be realised. Two sites in eastern Australia, Dalby (27 degrees S) and Corowa (36 degrees S) were used as a case study to analyse wheat growing conditions at two contrasting locations. Average annual rainfall ranged from 540 mm in Corowa to 675 mm in Dalby, with rainfall summer dominant in the north and winter (growing season) dominant in the south. Simulated crop growth parameters were assessed using APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) and the data set was split into two time periods (1957-1983 and 1984-2011) to allow comparison. Dalby in the north showed a shift to decreasing simulated grain yield in the later period. For example the median grain yield at Dalby was reduced from 4000 kg/ha to a little over 3000 kg/ha. The decreased yield probabilities were accompanied by increased water stress during critical growth stages at Dalby. APSIM simulations highlight the climate change/ variability at Dalby with current 80 percentile yield of about 4000 kg/ha whereas at Corowa, there is no evidence of climate change/ variability and the 80 percentile yield is about 6000 kg/ha. The soil at the Dalby location is a Vertisol, while that at Corowa is a Solonetz. We used the paper-based DSS (Decision-Support Systems) called SCAMP (Soil Constraints and Management Package). Management strategies for ameliorating production constraints are identified, including the use of amendments such as gypsum and soil analyses to give fertiliser recommendations. Fertiliser management (fertilizer rate, timing and placement) can then be optimised using the CD-based DSS SafeGauge for Nutrients to maximise nutrient use efficiency and to minimise the environmental risk associated with off-site nutrient movement. Climate variability and economic return considerations indicate Corowa is the better choice for long term food security and economic returns than Dalby. SCAMP and SafeGauge for Nutrients indicate that different soil management practices would be needed at the two sites to realise yield potential. This case study thus demonstrates the principles of our new research project, funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) through its National Research Priority Program, in that the climate of a site of interest is analysed using a crop growth model to firstly indicate if the crop can grow there, what would be the likely yield, and what would be the likely effects of climate change on yield potential. Economics then dictate if the yield is high enough and stable enough to warrant development. SCAMP and other relevant models are then used to identify soil constraints that will need to be mitigated to maintain productivity.

Anthropic action, such as the soil use and management systems, promote changes in the soil structure. These changes might hamper the development of plants in soil management practices that involve its mobilization, and the negative effects might be increased due to intensive use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physico-hydrical properties of a Haplohumox in integrated production systems under different soil managements. The soil superficial (0.0-0.10 m) and sub-superficial (0.10-0.20 m) layers were evaluated in the different systems: conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), no-tillage (NT) and chiseled no-tillage (CNT), taking into consideration the annual ryegrass cropped for different uses [cover crop (C), grazing (G) and silage (S)] during the winter. Soil bulk density (Db), total porosity (TP), macro (Ma) and microporosity (Mi), water retention curves (SWRC) and water retention due to pore size (r) were determined. The annual ryegrass used as C produced lower Db and Mi and higher TP and Ma in CT, MT and CNT systems. No difference was verified between G and S in any of the management systems or soil layers. The superficial layer SWRC presented similar behavior regarding CT, MT and CNT. Under NT, C resulted in higher water retention. However, G and S provided higher water retention due to the pore size in this system.

WABOL: A conceptual water balance model for analyzing rainfall water use in olive orchards under different soil and cover crop management strategies

Saving water resources in agriculture is a topic of current research in Mediterranean environments, and rational soil management can allow such purposes. The Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure was applied in five olive orchards of Salento peninsula (southern Italy) to estimate the soil physical and hydraulic properties under alternative soil management (i.e., no-tillage (NT) and minimum tillage (MT)), and to quantify the impact of soil management on soil water conservation. Results highlighted the soundness of BEST predictions since they provided consistent results in terms of soil functions or capacitive-based soil indicators when (i) the entire data set was grouped by homogeneous classes of texture, bulk density, and capillarity of the soil, (ii) the predictions were compared with the corresponding water retention measures independently obtained in lab, and (iii) some correlations of literature were checked. BEST was applied to establish a comparison at Neviano (NE) and Sternatia (ST) sites. The two neighboring NT soils compared at NE showed substantial discrepancies in soil texture (i.e., sandy loam (NE-SL) or clay (NE-C)). This marked difference in soil texture could determine a worsening of the relative field capacity at the NE-SL site (relative field capacity, RFC < 0.6), as compared to NE-C where RFC was optimal. The current soil management determined a similar effect (RFC < 0.6) at Sternatia (ST-MT vs. ST-NT), but the worsening in soil properties, due to soil tillage, must be considered substantially transient, as progressive improvement is expected with the restoration of the soil structure. The results of this work suggest that strategic MT can be a viable solution to manage the soil of Salento olive orchards.

The agricultural landscape in Southern Spain, particularly in the Córdoba countryside, is in an on-going transformation due to the expansion of woody crops, like olives orchards [1], which has implications for erosion risk in the area. In that sense, the use of remote sensing to determine actual soil management strategies is a useful technique [2] to calibrate erosion models’ factors, e.g. the cover and management factor in RUSLE [3].This communication explores the performance of several algorithms for the identification of soil managements in olive orchards. For this, it were considered 3 classes: i) Bare soil (BS), with any combination of herbicide application and/or tillage; ii) Partial soil cover of the lane (alternate lanes of bare soil and cover crop, or narrow cover crop strips, less than 1 m wide, in all the lanes) by temporary cover crops (TCC), defined as those grown during the rainy season (autumn and winter) which are controlled in early spring); and iii) Full ground cover along all the lanes (FCC), also controlled as temporary cover crops. A total of thirty-four olive farms with a known soil management strategy were selected within the study area, located in the countryside of Cordoba (Southern Spain); more details in [1]. Fifty-percent of the farms were used for training, 25% for calibration and 25% for validation, balancing among treatments.A comparison of five different techniques using the same Sentinel satellite imagery was performed. The techniques were: 1- Support Vector Machines (SVM); 2- Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA); 3- Random Forest (RF); 4- Boosted Regression Trees (BRT); 5-Dense Neural Networks (DNN). The used dataset consisted of 8 vegetation indexes (ARVI, AVI, EVI, GNDVI, MBI, MCARI, NDVI, SAVI) and ten spectral-bands.Preliminary results demonstrated that the dataset derived from vegetation indexes exhibited greater accuracy for the five techniques (range 80-99%) than those based on combining several spectral bands (range 40-75%). This assertion was valid for distinguishing between BS and combined TCC&FCC and among BS, TCC and FCC. There was a similar performance among techniques for distinguishing between BS vs. TCC&FCC. For distinguishing among BS, TCC and FCC, LDA and DNN showed the best results. Overall the predictive capability using spectral indexes worsen for distinguishing among three treatments (around 80%) as compared for BS vs. TCC&FCC (around 99%).This study provides a comparative framework for assessing the response of spectral indices and spectral-bands to different soil management strategies widely used in Mediterranean conditions.Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the projects SCALE (EJP Soil Horizon 2020 GA 862695), TUdi (Horizon 2020, GA 101000224) and PID2019-105793RB-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation).

The real-time monitoring of plant water status is an important issue for digital irrigation to increase water productivity. This work focused on a comparison of three biosensors that continuously evaluate plant water status: trunk microtensiometers (MTs), trunk time-domain reflectometry (TDR), and LVDT sensors. During the summer and autumn seasons (DOY 150-300), nectarine trees were subjected to four different consecutive irrigation periods based on the soil Management Allowed Deficit (MAD) concept, namely: MAD10 (light deficit); MAD50 (moderate deficit); MAD100 (severe deficit), and MAD0 (full irrigation). Measurements of stem water potential (Ψstem) and leaf gas exchange were recorded on representative days. A continuous measurement of the plant water status of Ψtrunk, MDS, and Ktrunk revealed the water deficits imposed on the soil. The highest water deficit observed at the end of the MAD100 period (Ψstem = -2.04 MPa and Ɵv = 17%) resulted in a minimum value of Ψtrunk (-1.81 MPa). The maximum value of MDS (408 µm) was observed earlier than that of Ψtrunk, motivated by the low sensitivity of MDS at Ψtrunk < -1.2 MPa and Ψstem < -1.5 MPa due to a decrease in the tissue elasticity of the trunk when severe water deficit conditions are reached. Both Ψtrunk and Ψstem were more dependent on soil water content, while MDS was more responsive to environmental changes. Ktrunk was the weakest indicator for determining plant water status, although when expressed as a daily fraction of depletion (KtrunkFD), it improved, evidencing a process of hysteresis. Ψtrunk showed the highest sensitivity, suggesting the potential use of MTs as a valuable biosensor for monitoring nectarine water status in digital agrosystems.

The use of vegetation suppression, such as herbicide application and mechanical plowing in olive orchards can exacerbate soil erosion. Maintaining understory vegetation can mitigate erosion and enhance soil fertility. Although prior research has assessed the soil management impact on erosion, knowledge gaps persist regarding dominant erosion processes across spatial scales and management effects on soil microenvironments (tree canopy, wheel ruts, vegetation strips). This study systematically evaluates how soil management (herbicides, plowing, no intervention) and spatial scales (microplots, hillslope plots) affect erosion dynamics, soil properties and their interactions with rainfall, ground cover, and orchard characteristics in Alentejo, Portugal. Over two years, seven orchards with varying management practices were monitored for erosion rates, ground cover, and soil properties. Soil management strongly influenced erosion, with herbicides inducing the highest hillslope-scale erosion (average 11.3 t ha−1 yr−1) and plowing dominating microplot erosion, while untreated plots exhibited minimal erosion (up to 99 % lower than the herbicide treatments). Wheel rut areas increased hillslope erosion through runoff concentration and bare soil, while vegetation strips suppressed it completely. Tree canopy areas varied: plowing mobilized new sediments, whereas untreated/herbicide microplots showed no erosion due to vegetation cover or stone‑lag armoring. Hillslope erosion stemmed from cumulative runoff, while microplots were influenced by soil properties like roughness or bulk density. Our findings highlight the need to consider scale effects in erosion modelling and policy. Future research should explore longer-term trends, expand underlying conditions (e.g. soil types, climatic zones or management practices), and refine soil erosion models to support sustainable soil conservation.