Abstract
Vineyards represent complex Mediterranean agrosystems that deliver significant ecosystem services to society. Yet, many vine-growers still need to assimilate the importance of crop and soil management to the conservation of soil and water resources. The main objective of this study was to evaluate water use and the water balance terms in rainfed and irrigated vineyards in Italy and Portugal, respectively, in both cases aiming at the sustainability of natural resources use. The SIMDualKc model is used for both sites after calibration and validation by fitting soil water content measurements. The Italian case study focused on the impacts of inter-row conservation management in hillslope vineyards while the Portuguese case study analyzed irrigation water management under scarcity in flat vineyards. For the Italian vineyards, the model results focused on the evapotranspiration fluxes and their partition, control of surface runoff, and soil water recharge provided by the inter-row soil management using cover crops. Model results of the Portuguese case study showed the need for improving irrigation water use and the terms of water balance, namely referring to percolation and soil water evaporation. Both case studies further demonstrated the advantages of using computational tools to better cope with climate variability in the Mediterranean region and made evident the benefits of improved crop and soil management practices in counteracting land degradation and valuing the use and conservation of natural resources.
Highlights
Considering the insufficient knowledge on vineyards evapotranspiration as related to cover crops, the current study aims to estimate evapotranspiration fluxes and water use in two Mediterranean vineyards, a northern Italy sloping rainfed crop planted in a soil with large soil water holding capacity, and an irrigated one in southern Portugal cropped in a flat area with a sandy soil
The active ground cover promoted an increase of the Kcb values in the initial and end season, while no differences were noticed in the mid-season
This paper presents two study cases, one at Monferrato, northern Italy, analyzing alternative soil management issues, conventional tillage (CT) and grass cover (GC) as active ground cover, the other at Samora Correia, southern Portugal, drip irrigated
Summary
Viticulture is one of the most diffused cultivations in the world and has been practiced in the Mediterranean area for millennia [1] In this region, the vineyard agricultural system is potentially well suited for delivering provisioning services such as grapes for table or wine production, the regulation of climate and the hydrologic cycle [2], and the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage including landscape and aesthetic values [3,4]. Fertilization contributes to improve yields and, to a higher water productivity while weeding has different impacts depending on whether it is performed mechanically or chemically. Both practices are influenced by the soil type.
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