Abstract
Vineyards are among the land uses with the highest soil degradation rate in Mediterranean Europe, mainly due to intensive tillage management. Therefore, practices able to foster soil health are critical to promote sustainable wine production. We studied the following treatments in two organic farms in Chianti Classico (Italy): conventional tillage, spontaneous vegetation, pigeon bean (Vicia faba var. minor) incorporated in spring and a mixture of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and squarrosum clover (Trifolium squarrosum), both incorporated and left as mulch. An innovative approach, based on gamma-ray and apparent electrical conductivity, was used to account for the fine-scale soil variability that was included in the statistical model. Mulched groundcovers were associated with higher soil organic matter compared to tillage, already after two years. An increased N availability was found under all groundcovers compared with tillage. The effect of soil management practices on P2O5 strongly varied across farms and years, while it was not statistically significant on K availability. Spontaneous vegetation positively influenced the soil structure index, soil penetration resistance and soil biological health. The results show that mulched groundcovers can improve soil health already in the short term, thereby potentially increasing the sustainability of the wine sector.
Highlights
Soil is a key natural resource for humankind as well as for agriculture
This study presents information on the effect of different soil management practices on soil health in Chianti Classico DOP
Using an innovative methodology that takes into account the fine-scale soil variability that typically characterizes vineyards, we provided a comprehensive assessment of the effect of groundcover practices on the chemical, physical and biological soil health
Summary
Soil is a key natural resource for humankind as well as for agriculture. Soil biodiversity provides a wide set of essential ecosystem services (ESs), including key ones such as biomass production, climate regulation, C-sequestration and nutrient and water cycling [2,3]. Global and international policies have clearly identified the importance of soil health among the main pillars of ecosystem stability and human welfare [4]. In Europe, soil degradation has significantly increased in the last decades thereby calling for immediate action to mitigate, e.g., erosion, compaction, organic matter decline and biodiversity loss [7,8]. Vineyards are among the land use types with the highest mean soil loss rate (about 9.5 t ha−1 year−1 vs 2.5 t ha−1 year−1 on average of all land use types), as they are mainly located in the hilly areas of Mediterranean Europe [9]
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