Abstract
German vineyards are one of the land uses most prone to soil erosion. Due to their placement on mainly steep slopes and non-conservative cultivation practices, runoff and soil loss are a serious problem for wine growers. In the Saar-Mosel valley (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany), there is a tendency towards organic management of vineyards with protective grass cover in the inter-rows. Since there is a lack of information about organic-conventional tillage in German vineyards related to soil erosion processes, this study presents a comparison between these two soil management practices. For this purpose, 22 rainfall simulations were performed as well as a medium-term monitoring by using 4-paired Gerlach troughs in two experimental sites in the Saar-Mosel valley. The mean simulated runoff coefficient and suspended sediment load in conventional vineyards amounted up to 23.3% and 33.75 g m-2, respectively. In the organic site, runoff and soil loss were only recorded in one out of the 11 simulations. Runoff and sediment was collected in the Gerlach troughs for 33 natural rainfall events. In the conventional vineyard, the total measured soil loss was 3314.63 g m-1 and 6503.77 g m-1 and total runoff volumes were 105.52 L m-1 and 172.58 L m-1. In the organic site, total soil losses reached 143.16 g m-1 and 258.89 g m-1 and total runoff was 21.65 L m-1 and 12.69 L m-1. When soil loss was measured without corresponding runoff or precipitation, soil erosion was activated by tillage or trampling. Finally, the conventional vineyard showed a higher variability in soil loss and runoff suggesting less predictable results.
Highlights
Soils are one of the most important components of biological, hydrological and geochemical cycles (Brevik et al, 2015; Keesstra et al, 2012, 2016a) and are in a state of constant change and evolution (Simonson, 1959; Corbane et al, 2012; Novák et al, 2014)
The highest runoff coefficient and the lowest infiltration coefficient were found in the sixth interval, while the highest sediment concentration was present in the fourth interval
Despite that rainfall intensity was higher during the rainfall simulations than during natural events, soil losses and runoff coefficients were higher during the natural events due to the relatively low kinetic energy of the simulated rainfall and the inexact reproduction of the natural rainfall structure by rainfall simulations (Cerdà, 1997; Iserloh et al, 2012; Iserloh et al, 2013b; Lassu et al, 2015)
Summary
Soils are one of the most important components of biological, hydrological and geochemical cycles (Brevik et al, 2015; Keesstra et al, 2012, 2016a) and are in a state of constant change and evolution (Simonson, 1959; Corbane et al, 2012; Novák et al, 2014). Rill erosion can be predominant over sheet erosion depending on the spatial scale and the environmental conditions, as shown by Quiquerez et al (2008, 2014) and Chevigny et al (2014). They concluded that over 30 % of fine material can be eroded with soil lowering up to 0.5 to 2 mm yr-1, leading to a reduced soil fertility and sustainability. In the Penèdes region from northeast Spain and on Sicily in Italy, it was demonstrated that the cost of soil erosion in vineyards could amount to a great part of the final income from the sale of the grape production, as a result of the damaged infrastructures and cost associated to broad-based terraces, drainage channels or filling of ephemeral gullies, and washed off nutrients needing to be replaced (MartínezCasasnovas and Ramos, 2006; Galati et al, 2015)
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