Journal
AGRONOMY-BASEL
Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/agronomy11040787
Keywords
cover crop; tillage; green manure; organic farming; sustainable agriculture
Categories
Funding
- European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [727321]
- International PhD course in Agrobiodiversity at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
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The study reveals that mulched groundcovers can significantly increase soil organic matter and nitrogen availability in the short term compared to conventional tillage. Spontaneous vegetation has a positive impact on soil structure, soil penetration resistance, and soil biological health. These results suggest that mulched groundcovers can improve soil health and potentially enhance the sustainability of the wine sector.
Vineyards are among the land uses with the highest soil degradation rate in Mediterranean Europe, mainly due to intensive tillage management. Therefore, practices able to foster soil health are critical to promote sustainable wine production. We studied the following treatments in two organic farms in Chianti Classico (Italy): conventional tillage, spontaneous vegetation, pigeon bean (Vicia faba var. minor) incorporated in spring and a mixture of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and squarrosum clover (Trifolium squarrosum), both incorporated and left as mulch. An innovative approach, based on gamma-ray and apparent electrical conductivity, was used to account for the fine-scale soil variability that was included in the statistical model. Mulched groundcovers were associated with higher soil organic matter compared to tillage, already after two years. An increased N availability was found under all groundcovers compared with tillage. The effect of soil management practices on P2O5 strongly varied across farms and years, while it was not statistically significant on K availability. Spontaneous vegetation positively influenced the soil structure index, soil penetration resistance and soil biological health. The results show that mulched groundcovers can improve soil health already in the short term, thereby potentially increasing the sustainability of the wine sector.
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