Olive mill wastewater spreading and AMF inoculation effects in a low-input semi-arid Mediterranean crop succession

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study aimed to evaluate, in a marginal semi-arid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem (Sicily-Italy), the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation and raw olive mill wastewater (OMW) (40 and 80 m3 ha−1) on forage (durum wheat-snail medick intercropping) yield, and grain production of broad bean and chickpea. AMF inoculation significantly increased (+13.6%) forage dry biomass and durum wheat nitrogen (+22.8%) and phosphorus (+32.5%) uptake. AMF inoculation, significantly promoted broad bean phosphorus uptake (+11.5%) and root nodule number (+13.9%) in the absence of OMW. OMW spreading reduced weeds in the forage (−31.3%), root nodule number (−29.7%) and dry weight (−22.7%) in broad bean. OMW also significantly increased snail medick dry biomass (+19.3%) as compared to control treatments (0, 40 and 80 m3 H2O ha−1, average production 361 g m−2), and broad bean grain yield with a production of 2.46 ± 0.12 and 1.94 ± 0.09 Mg ha−1 with and without OMW, respectively. During the experiment AMF colonization was not affected by OMW volumes. The results obtained showed that in a marginal Mediterranean agro-ecosystem: 1) OMW, notwithstanding spreading volumes, is a valuable amendment to maximize legume yield while 2) AMF inoculation is a valuable practice to improve biomass production and N and P uptake in wheat.