Long-term establishment of natural green cover provides agroecosystem services by improving soil quality in a Mediterranean vineyard

Abstract

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a large and economically important crop in the Mediterranean area where the soil conservation is a priority. Some agricultural practices, as green covers, are a promising strategy to protect against erosion and to improve soil microbial biodiversity and physicochemical quality. Here, we investigated the long-term effects of natural green cover, established over 7 years, on the biological and physicochemical characteristics of a clay-loam soil under Mediterranean conditions. Samples were collected in an experimental an experimental Garnacha vineyard, locate in Mallorca (Spain), at two times points in a single year: pre-bud burst (T1) and blooming/flowering (T2). All samples were taken at the trafficked position at 0–10 cm depth. Natural green cover resulted in an increment of 1% of organic carbon content, larger dry aggregate size and a reduction of 0.36 g cm−3 of bulk density. That supposes a total accumulation, after 7 years of maintenance of the cover, of 5.471 MgC ha−1yr−1 in the 0–10 cm layer. Furthermore, these changes were associated with higher functional microbial community diversity assessed using Biolog™ EcoPlates, and a higher density of mycorrhizal spores. We found that the microbial community from soil under green cover was able to degrade ten substances more than microbes from tillage soils. Moreover, cover soil can present double of spores of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. All these results indicate that the long-term maintenance of the resident species improves the physicochemical and biological characteristics of the soil and provides beneficial agroecosystem services to vineyard.