Long-term effects of living grass mulching on soil and water conservation and fruit yield of citrus orchard in south China

Tu, Anguo; Xie, Shuguang; Zheng, Haijin; Hong-ren, LI; Li, Ying; Mo, Minghao

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106897

Cited by 33 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…(2) Grass cultivation in orchards has a water retention effect (Tu et al, 2021). Firstly, the grass has an interception effect on rainfall and reduces surface runoff.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiment and meta-analysis on the effects of grass cultivation in the orchard on fruit yield and quality

Liao

ZHAO

2023

Food Sci. Technol

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Grass cultivation in orchard technology has been implemented in some parts of the world, and different regions have different effects on fruits due to their different geographical environments. In this paper, Xinjiang, China, which has a temperate continental climate, is selected as the research area. Through orchard experiments and meta-analysis, the influence of grass cultivation on orchards in this area is studied. Experiments and the meta-analysis both showed that the single fruit weight, yield per plant and fruit quality were improved after grass cultivation in the orchards. This indicates that grass cultivation is of great significance to orchards in Xinjiang.

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“…(2) Grass cultivation in orchards has a water retention effect (Tu et al, 2021). Firstly, the grass has an interception effect on rainfall and reduces surface runoff.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiment and meta-analysis on the effects of grass cultivation in the orchard on fruit yield and quality

Liao

ZHAO

2023

Food Sci. Technol

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“…This suggests that the practice of planting grass in local orchards is more conducive to improving SQ than traditional clean tillage, intercropping, or engineering measures. Nevertheless, competition for soil nutrients and moisture between fruit trees and understory grass is a serious obstacle to the adoption of grass mulching as a ground management system in orchards (Tu, Xie, Zheng, et al., 2021). Therefore, the selection of grass species should be carefully considered to guarantee a balance between soil nutrients, water maintenance, and competitive pressures (Żelazny & Licznar‐Małańczuk, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The red soil hilly region in southern China is enriched in rainfall and heat resources and possesses tremendous potential ecosystem productivity (Wu et al., 2021). The hilly area of the region accounts for about 60.6% of the land area in southern China and has been facing severe soil and water loss owing to the strong rainfall erosivity, high soil erodibility, and inadequate land management for a long period (Tu, Xie, Zheng, et al., 2021). With the rapid growth of the human population and heavy pressure on productive soil resources, increasing amounts of barren land on the slopes have been transformed into orchards in recent decades (Z. Chen et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological conservation measures are better than engineering conservation measures in improving soil quality of eroded orchards in southern China

Qin

Zhang

et al. 2022

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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Both biological and engineering measures have proven to be effective soil and water conservation practices for eroded environments, whereas how the soil quality varies with them remains unclear. In this study, we measured soil properties in the 0-to-100-cm soil layer of eroded orchards in southern China after 17-yr of application of different conservation measures. The purpose of the experiment was to examine the effect of biological (grass planting, intercropping) and engineering measures (terrace) on the soil quality of eroded orchards. We selected an orchard plot with traditional clean-tillage as control. In comparison, soil pH, organic carbon, total phosphorus, microbial carbon, available potassium, and available microelements contents increased significantly in orchards with biological measures, and the improvements were more dramatic in orchards planting grass in strips. However, biological measures significantly reduced the mean weight diameter of aggregates. Engineering measures significantly increased the soil pH of orchards but decreased the contents of available iron and available manganese. The soil quality index (SQI)

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“…Citrus is the fruit tree with the largest planting area in the world. It can promote regional economic development and ecological environment ( Tu et al., 2021 ). The Three Gorges Reservoir area (TGRA) in China is one of the optimal citrus production regions worldwide due to its unique natural resources and ecological conditions ( Xia et al., 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living grass mulching improves soil enzyme activities through enhanced available nutrients in citrus orchards in subtropical China

Wang

Gou

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Living grass mulching (LGM) is an important orchard floor management that has been applied worldwide. Although LGM can effectively enhance soil nutrient availability and fertility, its effects on microbial-mediated soil nutrient cycling and main drivers are unclear. Meanwhile, the variation of enzyme activities and soil nutrient availability with LGM duration have been rarely studied. This study aims to explore the effects of mulching age and soil layer on enzyme activities and soil nutrients in citrus orchards. In this study, three LGM (Vicia villosa) treatments were applied, i.e., mulching for eight years, mulching for four years, and no mulching (clean tillage). Their effects on the enzyme activities and soil nutrients were analyzed in different soil layers of citrus orchards in subtropical China, i.e., 0-10, 10-20, and 20-40 cm. Compared to clean tillage, mulching for four years had fewer effects on enzyme activities and soil nutrients. In contrast, mulching for eight years significantly increased available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) nutrients, β-glucosidase, and cellobiohydrolase activities in the soil layer of 0-20 cm. In the soil layer of 0-40 cm, microbial biomass carbon (C), N, P, N-acetylglucosaminidase, leucine aminopeptidase, and acid phosphatase activities also increased (P < 0.05). Mulching for eight years significantly promoted C, N, and P-cycling enzyme activities and total enzyme activities by 2.45-6.07, 9.29-54.42, 4.42-7.11, and 5.32-14.91 times, respectively. Redundancy analysis shows that mulching treatments for eight and four years had soil layer-dependent positive effects on soil enzyme activities. Microbial C and P showed the most significant positive correlation with enzyme activities, followed by moisture content, organic C, and available N (P < 0.05). Available nutrients contributed almost 70% to affect enzyme activities significantly and were the main drivers of the enzyme activity variation. In summary, LGM could improve soil enzyme activities by increasing available nutrients. The promotion effect was more significant under mulching for eight years. Therefore, extending mulching age and improving nutrient availability are effective development strategies for sustainable soil management in orchard systems. Our study can provide valuable guidelines for the design and implementation of more sustainable management practices in citrus orchards.

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Long-term effects of living grass mulching on soil and water conservation and fruit yield of citrus orchard in south China

Cited by 33 publications

References 33 publications

Experiment and meta-analysis on the effects of grass cultivation in the orchard on fruit yield and quality

Experiment and meta-analysis on the effects of grass cultivation in the orchard on fruit yield and quality

Biological conservation measures are better than engineering conservation measures in improving soil quality of eroded orchards in southern China

Living grass mulching improves soil enzyme activities through enhanced available nutrients in citrus orchards in subtropical China

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