Implication of Urochloa spp. Intercropping and Conservation Agriculture on Soil Microbiological Quality and Yield of Tahiti Acid Lime in Long Term Orchard Experiment

Ana Carolina Costa Arantes,Silvana Perissatto Meneghin,Rodrigo Marcelli Boaretto,Patrícia Marluci Da Conceição,Fernando Dini Andreote,Fernando Alves De Azevedo,Dirceu Mattos-Jr,Simone Raposo Cotta,Alexandre Gonçalves Próspero,Rodrigo Martinelli

doi:10.3390/agriculture10110491

Ana Carolina Costa Arantes, Silvana Perissatto Meneghin + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10110491

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Abstract

Techniques such as intercropping and minimum tillage improve soil quality, including soil microbial activity, which stimulates the efficient use of soil resources by plants. However, the effects of such practices in soil under citrus orchards have not been well characterized. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of mowing and intercrop species on soil microbiological characteristics beneath a Tahiti acid lime orchard. The orchard was planted using minimum tillage and intercropped with two species of Urochloa species (U. ruziziensis—ruzi grass; U. decumbens—signal grass), with two types of mowers for Urochloa biomass (ecological; conventional) and herbicide applications. The study was conducted over 10 years. The ecological mower made the largest deposition of the intercrop biomass, thus providing the lowest disturbance of soil microbial activity and increasing, on average over all 10 years, the basal soil respiration (45%), microbial biomass carbon (25%), abundance of 16S rRNA (1.5%) and ITS (3.5%) genes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (30%), and providing a ca. 20% higher fruit yield. U. ruziziensis in combination with ecological mowing stimulated the abundance of the genes nifH (1.5%) and phoD (3.0%). The herbicide showed little influence. We conclude that the use of U. ruziziensis as an intercrop in citrus orchards subjected to ecological mowing can be recommended for improving and sustaining soil quality and citrus fruit production.

Highlights

The quality of soil is related to the capacity to sustain crop yields and to provide health for plants, animals, and humans [1]
The soil was classified as Red-Yellow Argisol [25] or Cutanic Acrisol [26], and the chemical characteristics prior to planting in the layer of 0.0–0.2 m were as follows: soil organic matter (SOM), pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Zn, H + Al, BS
In the sixth and seventh years, the increase was 44.5% and 17.8%, respectively, for ecological mower planting (Figure 6)

Summary

Objectives

We aimed to determine the effects of mowing and intercrop species on soil microbiological characteristics beneath a Tahiti acid lime orchard. The aim of this work was to compare the long-term effects of different treatments in Urochloa intercropping with Tahiti acid lime plants on soil microbiological attributes and

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Results

Conclusion