Soil conservation beneath grass cover in hillside vineyards under Mediterranean Climatic conditions (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

The use of plant cover for soil protection in Mediterranean hillside vineyards may jeopardize the viability of crops due to the scarcity of water under semiarid conditions. Erosion control, soil characteristics and vineyard production were evaluated using three different treatments: (i) traditional tillage as the control group, (ii) soil covered by Brachypodium distachyon and (iii) soil covered by Secale cereale. Such plant cover for soil protection among woody crops is not frequent under semiarid conditions. Sediment yield and runoff were collected from nine (3 treatments  3 replications) plots of 2 m 2 . Soil moisture, organic carbon content and aggregate stability were measured for one year. Simulated rainfall on plots was used as a source of complementary data.A reduction of 50% in the production of the vineyard was noticed in the Brachypodium-treatment, probably due to the lower degree of soil moisture at 35 cm depth. Nevertheless, there was efficient erosion control and the soil's organic carbon content increased. The Secaletreatment produced more runoff than tillage treatment. Traditional tilling produced the greatest yield, though it is considered unsustainable in the long term for hillside vineyards, as it lost 1059 g m , compared to 62 and 70 g m À2 y À1 lost in soil covered with Secale and Brachypodium, respectively. A high variability was found in the runoff coefficient, which was usually less than 1% under moderate rainfall, although it reached 45% under extreme events.The blind tasting of wine showed a slight preference for wine produced on vines subject to the Secale treatment.

Management of service crops for the provision of ecosystem services in vineyards: A review

“…Ruiz-Colmenero et al (2011) showed that service crops such as cereals (Hordeum vulgare and Secale cereale in their experiment) could have a positive impact on runoff and erosion without impairing grape production if cereals were properly managed and mown during the season to mitigate the competition for nutrients. This confirms the results of other experiments in vineyards (Marques et al, 2010) and olive orchards (Gomez et al, 2003).…”

“…However, with a permanent service crop, soil organic matter content changes in the topsoil layer only (Fourie, 2012;Ruiz-Colmenero et al, 2011), and this change is generally slow: Celette et al (2009) observed no significant change of SOM content with a permanent service crop over a four year period, while Morlat and Jacquet (2003) observed a significant increase in SOM in the topsoil layer after 17 years of permanent grass cover. In contrast, some studies highlight significant increase in SOM content, depending on the service crop species, after only three years (Belmonte et al, 2016;Marques et al, 2010). The service crop biomass production also contributes to the sequestration process but could be limited in case of a reduced dry matter production, because of poor soil quality or unfavourable climate condition for example (Celette et al, 2009;Coll et al, 2011;Salomé et al, 2016).…”

“…(Ferrero et al, 2005;Pardini et al, 2002), Spain (e.g. (Gago et al, 2007;Marques et al, 2010;Ruiz-Colmenero et al, 2011), Chile (e.g. (Ovalle et al, 2007), France (e.g.…”

Effects of permanent grass versus tillage on aggregation and organic matter dynamics in a poorly developed vineyard soil

“…Besides favouring soil erosion, traditional tillage has been reported to be unsustainable in 40 terms of SOM and nutrient depletion (Ruiz-Colmenero et al 2013). Conversely, the combination of 41 no-tillage and permanent grass cover in the inter-row may represent an optimal solution for 42 improving aggregation and SOM protection, that is also feasible as the competition between the 43 herbaceous cover and grapevines often does not reduce yields even in rain-fed Mediterranean 44 environments (Marques et al 2010;Agnelli et al 2014;Mercenaro et al 2014). Grasses contribute 45 to organic matter input while no-tillage reduces soil macroaggregate turnover, which is crucial for C 46 sequestration in stable microaggregates.…”

“…Grasses contribute 45 to organic matter input while no-tillage reduces soil macroaggregate turnover, which is crucial for C 46 sequestration in stable microaggregates. For example, Marques et al (2010) and Ruiz-Colmenero et 47 al. (2013) observed lower soil losses in cover cropped rows than in tilled rows in Spanish vineyards.…”