Living Mulch with Selected Herbs for Soil Management in Organic Apple Orchards

Abstract

The establishment of living mulches in organic orchards could potentially improve the orchard biodiversity and, when specific plant species are selected, provide additional eco-services and functions, including adequate weed management. This study was conducted in an organically managed apple orchard in Skierniewice (Poland) to assess the effect of two selected living mulching species: Alchemilla vulgaris and Mentha piperita. They were assessed on weed control, weed biodiversity, tree nutritional status, root dry weight density (RDWD), and other root morphological traits compared to a natural soil cover (control). Overall, both living mulches produced 42.5% more dry biomass, increased weed species number (+29%), and increased soil coverage (+33%) compared to control mowed plots. The apple leaf chlorophyll index and nutrient content were higher in the presence of both living mulches than in the control. In addition, apple trees had 30–46% higher root dry weight densities, even though other root morphological traits were not affected by the treatments. The results suggested that the tree row can be managed with living mulches of herbs; these species have the potential to provide an additional income to the farmer, as well as beneficial effects for the orchard biodiversity, without impairing the tree root development and nutrient status.

Strawberry Living Mulch in an Organic Vineyard

“…Therefore, grape production and quality were not influenced by the presence of strawberry living mulch. It is common knowledge that strawberry plants have a superficial fasciculate root system and stolon propagation, and they are poorly active in the summer, with temperatures above 30 • C. As it was found with other herb species suitable for living mulches in apple orchards [10], these do not exert any strong competition with the deep tree root system. Decisively, the rains were sufficiently frequent and high at the end of August to permit the full grapevine yield at harvest.…”

“…This brings an increase in soil fertility, improving biological diversity while mitigating soil quality loss due to monoculture [7]. Soil quality can be restored by maintaining an adequate soil coverage, and this can also contribute to weed control and to various functional ecosystem services [2,[8][9][10]. Living mulches between fruit trees or vines have been shown to improve soil organic matter [11], soil microorganism populations [12,13] and soil nutrient content, particularly nitrogen [14,15].…”

“…For instance, cash crops, such as strawberries, could be considered as an intercrop, which could compete efficiently enough with weeds to act as a living mulch, and could potentially also provide additional income, thus reinforcing both economic and ecological sustainability [23]. Living mulches may also consist of aromatic herbs, which have the potential to provide farmers with an additional income, as well as beneficial effects for orchard biodiversity, without impairing tree root development or soil nutrient status [10].…”

Foliar Nourishment with Different Zinc-Containing Forms Effectively Sustains Carrot Performance in Zinc-Deficient Soil

“…From setting seeds in seedbeds to harvesting, plants suffer from one or more of several abiotic environmental adversaries, such as salinity [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], drought [33][34][35][36][37], heavy metals [38][39][40][41][42], weed invasion [43][44][45], nutrient deficiency [46,47], high soil CaCO 3 content [4,17,48], or even more than one stress at the same time [18,[49][50][51][52][53][54]. Therefore, lots of attempts have been made by many researchers to explore effective solutions that lead to a successful adaptation of different plant species, especially those sensitive to those abiotic adversaries, which are increasing with climate change conditions that we did not realize before.…”

Detection of Above-Ground Physiological Indices of an Apple Rootstock Superior Line 12-2 with Improved Apple Replant Disease (ARD) Resistance

“…About 50% of the apple orchards in the UK, New Zealand, and Poland have ARD [6]. ARD destroys the diversity of microorganisms in the agroecosystem [7], leading to poor growth of new roots [2,8], slow growth, short plants, reduced resistance, disease, and death of the entire plant, causing a severe economic crisis [9,10]. How to effectively improve the effect of ARD on apple is a problem that needs to be solved.…”