Quantifying the effect of historical soil management on soil erosion rates in Mediterranean olive orchards

Vanwalleghem, Tom; Infante-Amate, Juan; Molina, Manuel González de; Soto, David Díaz; Gómez, José A.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.06.003

Cited by 103 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Basically, because the effects of soil degradation in the reduction of potential yield are difficult to be observed in the short or medium term, and its worst effects will be suffered in the future. Vanwalleghem, T. et al (2011) noted this situation in an mountainous olive growing area in Southern Spain in which the loss of ap- . Potential olive tree yield for different average annual rainfall and rooting depth for two contrasting situations: Obejo, sandy soils with coarse material and moderate water holding capacity; Cordoba, fine textured soils with high water holding capacity.…”

Section: Water Balance and Yieldmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sustainability using cover crops in Mediterranean tree crops, olives and vines – Challenges and current knowledge

Gómez

2017

HunGeoBull

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Tree crops are a key element of the European agricultural landscape with more than 13 million hectares of permanent tree crops in the EU-28. The majority of them, approximately 80 per cent of the surface, are concentrated in areas with Mediterranean type of climate (Table 1). This is because the majority of these crops in the EU (such as olives, citrus or almonds) are best grown under a Mediterranean type of climate. The only exception among the dominant tree crops are vines. The 3.2 million hectares of vines in the EU-28 are distributed across the continent among 21 countries, from Sweden to Malta, albeit the majority of them are also concentrated in Mediterranean areas.The major reason for that distribution is the favourable conditions in terms of temperature and radiation. Other reasons are the rusticity of some of these tree crops, particularly olives and almonds, which allows cultivation in areas not suitable for other crops or grazing and their double role as a food and cash crop. However, the Mediterranean type of climate is characterized by a limited, and highly variable, precipitation in relation Sustainability using cover crops in Mediterranean tree crops, olives and vines -Challenges and current knowledge AbstractTree crops cover a large area of European landscape, 13.3 million hectares, with olive, grapes, nuts and almonds been the most extended and mostly concentrated in Mediterranean areas. The cultivation of tree crops in rain limited Mediterranean areas depend on an adequate management of water balance that, been historically mostly based on bare soil, has created severe erosion and offsite contamination problems. Temporary cover crops can be an alternative to control these problems with a larger effect on erosion control than on reducing runoff, and a moderate impact on soil properties. This impact depend strongly on the ability to implement temporary cover crops that achieve a significant development during the rainy season while simultaneously minimizing the competition for soil water with the major crop, which is not always easy in commercial farms. This balance between soil protection and yield has been achieved in some conditions but not in others, and a significant reduction in yield has been reported for some situations. This potential risk of yield decrease, combine with the difficulty to see a collapse in yield due to soil degradation by water erosion in the short/ medium term can explain, partially, the reluctance of farmers for an extensive use of temporary cover crops. The development of improved strategies for using temporary cover crops which could include the use of water balance models, new varieties better adapted to the region, and strategies for restoring ground cover in severely degraded orchards seems to be necessary, coupled with regulations and incentive to their use by farmers. Future research should focus in the less understood elements of this system, among them root development, biomass production, phenology under different microclimate of the cover crops and the main ...

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Section: Water Balance and Yieldmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sustainability using cover crops in Mediterranean tree crops, olives and vines – Challenges and current knowledge

Gómez

2017

HunGeoBull

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“…In areas with weakly developed soils, such as the Setenil region, the rugged relief often leads to partial loss of the topsoil layer (Ibañez et al, 2015;Symeonakis et al, 2014). This is a natural process aggravated by certain agricultural practices (eg tillage) (Gómez et al, 2009;Keesstra et al, 2016;Taguas and Gómez, 2015;Vanwalleghem et al, 2011), leading to outcropping of the bedrock and to the appearance of localised zones where the humus-rich horizon rarely exceeds 0.1 m. The climate is Mediterranean, with a mean annual precipitation of 700 mm, where 75% of the rainfall occurs from October to May. The grove is under minimum tillage and weeds are controlled with chemical herbicides.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal stability of electrical conductivity in a sandy soil

Pedrera‐Parrilla

Brevik

Giráldez

et al. 2016

International Agrophysics

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Understanding of soil spatial variability is needed to delimit areas for precision agriculture. Electromagnetic induction sensors which measure the soil apparent electrical conductivity reflect soil spatial variability. The objectives of this work were to see if a temporally stable component could be found in electrical conductivity, and to see if temporal stability information acquired from several electrical conductivity surveys could be used to better interpret the results of concurrent surveys of electrical conductivity and soil water content. The experimental work was performed in a commercial rainfed olive grove of 6.7 ha in the ‘La Manga’ catchment in SW Spain. Several soil surveys provided gravimetric soil water content and electrical conductivity data. Soil electrical conductivity values were used to spatially delimit three areas in the grove, based on the first principal component, which represented the time-stable dominant spatial electrical conductivity pattern and explained 86% of the total electrical conductivity variance. Significant differences in clay, stone and soil water contents were detected between the three areas. Relationships between electrical conductivity and soil water content were modelled with an exponential model. Parameters from the model showed a strong effect of the first principal component on the relationship between soil water content and electrical conductivity. Overall temporal stability of electrical conductivity reflects soil properties and manifests itself in spatial patterns of soil water content.

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“…Rainfall-induced soil erosion risk in the Mediterranean is especially high during summer storms or the early wet season, when plant cover is low (García-Orenes et al, 2009;Taguas et al, 2015). Soil loss is enhanced in cropped soils due to soil management and tillage practices (Blavet et al, 2009;Boardman et al, 1990;Boix-Fayos et al, 2005;Cerdan et al, 2010;Gómez et al, 1999;Vanwalleghem et al, 2011). Indeed, this is due to several reasons such as conventional plowing, removal of the original vegetation, use of pesticides and herbicides that damage biological activity in soils (Freemark and Boutin, 1995;Johnsen et al, 2001;Pelosi et al, 2013), low overall vegetation cover, soil compaction and sealing due to machinery traffic, depletion of organic matter and absence of soil erosion control measures (Arnáez et al, 2015;Bakker et al, 2005;Carr et al, 2015;Cerdà et al, 2009;Ciampalini et al, 2012;Cots-Folc et al, 2009;Laudicina et al, 2015;Raclot et al, 2009;Tarolli et al, 2014Tarolli et al, , 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The immediate effectiveness of barley straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards

Prosdocimi

Jordán

Tarolli

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

351

187

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Quantifying the effect of historical soil management on soil erosion rates in Mediterranean olive orchards

Cited by 103 publications

References 22 publications

Sustainability using cover crops in Mediterranean tree crops, olives and vines – Challenges and current knowledge

Sustainability using cover crops in Mediterranean tree crops, olives and vines – Challenges and current knowledge

Temporal stability of electrical conductivity in a sandy soil

The immediate effectiveness of barley straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards

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