Evaluation of soil erosion risk and identification of soil cover and management factor (C) for RUSLE in European vineyards with different soil management

Vineyards show some of the largest erosion rates reported in agricultural areas in Europe. Reported rates vary considerably under the same land use, since erosion processes are highly affected by climate, soil, topography and by the adopted soil management practices. Literature also shows differences in the effect of same conservation practices on reducing soil erosion from conventional, bare soil based, management. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is commonly adopted to estimate rates of water erosion on cropland under different forms of land use and management, but it requires proper value of soil cover and management (C) factors in order to obtain a reliable evaluation of local soil erosion rates. In this study the ORUSCAL (Orchard RUSle CALibration) is used to identify the best calibration strategy against long-term experimental data. Afterwards, ORUSCAL is used in order to apply the RUSLE technology from farm based information across different European wine-growing regions. The results suggest that the best strategy for calibration should incorporate the soil moisture sub-factor (S_m) to provide better soil loss predictions. The C factor, whose average values ranged from 0.012 to 0.597, presented a large spatial variability due to coupling with local climate and specific local management. The comparison across the five wine-growing regions indicates that for the soil protection management, permanent cover crop is the best measure for accomplishing sustainable erosion rates across the studied areas. Alternate and temporary cover crops, that are used in areas of limited water resources to prevent competition with vines, failed to achieve sustainable erosion rates, that still need to be addressed. This raises the need for a careful use of C values developed under different environmental conditions.     

The simplification of traditional vineyard based agroforests in northwestern Portugal: some ecological implications

In northwestern Portugal, peasants have developed complex vineyard (Vitis vinifera) systems comprising agroforests composed of host trees, vines, annual crops and in some cases animals. Until recently these vineyards suffered very few pest problems and received relatively low pesticide loads. In the last few years, new policy and market forces have prompted the conversion of many of these systems to monoculture thereby decreasing the biodiversity inherent to traditional vineyards. Many scientists are concerned that with accelerating rates of vineyard simplification insect pest and disease problems may increase due to lack of habitat and resources for natural enemies or to a concentration of preferred host plants for specific pathogens and herbivores. During the growing seasons of 1997 and 1999 we conducted several farm surveys of traditional agroforestry and modernized, monoculture farms. We conducted field measurements to elucidate trends in insect pest and disease incidence in both types of vineyards. Our surveys revealed that monoculture vineyards exhibited lower number of species of predators and parasites and correspondingly higher densities of two grape herbivores (Lobesia botrana and Empoasca vitis) than diverse vineyard agroforests. Botrytis bunch rot seemed more prevalent in the monoculture systems, which also received increased fungicide applications when compared to the traditional vineyards. Although preliminary, our studies suggest that new vineyard designs may be more productive, but such gains occur at the expense of biodiversity and agricultural sustainability, reflected on higher pest vulnerability. Further agroecological studies are needed to account for the full ecological costs of the modernization of traditional vineyard agroforests.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

不同种植年限葡萄园根区土壤养分变化及对再植葡萄生长的影响

研究了种植葡萄30年重茬3次和种植葡萄3年新建葡萄园的根区土壤养分变化,结合盆栽试验,分析了不同葡萄园根区土壤对再植葡萄生长发育的影响。结果表明,连作葡萄园土壤有机质及大量元素N、P、K、水溶性Ca、Mg含量并未减少,表现出显著增加趋势,而微量元素变化较为复杂,随着葡萄种植时间延长,Fe、Mn含量减少,Zn、Cu含量增加,Zn/Mn、Zn/Fe、N/Fe、P/Fe、Zn/K等比例失调,其中Zn/Mn、Zn/Fe比例失调最为严重。与新植园土盆栽葡萄相比,连作园根区土盆栽葡萄的株高、茎粗、地上鲜重、地下鲜重、叶绿素含量和根系活力均较低,分别比新植园土盆栽葡萄降低39.80%、5.82%、47.97%、30.17%、30.36%和21.22%,表现出明显的重茬障碍症状。连作土壤中Fe含量减少,Zn/Mn、Zn/Fe比例失调可能是葡萄连作障碍产生的重要原因之一。     

行内生草对葡萄果实品质的影响

以‘贝达’砧‘巨峰’葡萄为试材,研究了行内生草对‘巨峰’葡萄果实品质的影响。连续3年测定结果表明：行内生草略微增加了可溶性固形物含量,对葡萄单粒重和可滴定酸的影响不大;葡萄果皮花青苷含量表现出了较大的差异性,但不同年份间没有明显的一致性,说明行内生草可能不是引起这种差异的决定性因素。行内生草并不显著地影响葡萄香气物质总量,但影响了香气物质比例,行内种紫花苜蓿提高了酯类物质比例,降低了醛类物质比例,而行内种黑麦草和自然生草降低了酯类物质比例,提高了醛类物质比例。     

Water-stable aggregates and organic matter pools in a calcareous vineyard soil under four soil-surface management systems

Abstract. Vineyards in Champagne, France are generally situated on slopes where the soils are subject to erosion. Therefore it is important to find a soil‐surface management practice that protects the soil against water erosion. We assessed the potential of mulches or grass covers to stabilize soil aggregates in a calcareous sandy loam from a vineyard in Champagne after 9 years under different management systems. Four different treatments were studied: (i) a bluegrass (Poa pratensis) surface cover between the vine rows (GC) with bare soil under the vines (R); two organic mulches of (ii) coniferous (CB) or (iii) poplar (PB) bark that covered the entire soil surface, and (iv) bare soil between the rows as a control. The bark amendments were applied every 3 years at rates of 61 and 67 t ha^?1 for the PB and CB treatments, respectively. The kinetics of soil disaggregation in water fitted a power law (A=K t^?D), in which K was the fraction of water‐stable >200 μm aggregates remaining after 1 hour of wet‐sieving. In the 0–5 cm layer, aggregate stability was greater for GC (K=21.7), CB (K=15.2) and PB (K=13.6) than for the control (K=10.5) and R (K=11.8). In the 0–20 cm layer, CB also stabilized soil aggregates (K=14.0–15.0); but PB did not. Structural stability was more strongly related to total organic carbon (R²=0.64, P <0.001) than to microbial biomass carbon (R²=0.54, P<0.001). A bluegrass cover enhanced structural stability in the 0–5 cm and 0–20 cm layers (K=14.2), probably because of intense root development and rhizodeposition enhancing microbially produced metabolites, such as carbohydrates. Establishing grass cover or applying bark mulch are effective agricultural practices that improve soil aggregate stability and thus should reduce soil erosion. The vegetative growth of the vines was greater on the soils amended with bark mulches and less on the grass covered soils compared with the control soil; however, no difference in wine quality was observed among the different treatments.     

Influence of watertable depths on the variation of grapevine water status at the landscape scale

Determining the factors of variation of plant water status at the landscape scale is crucial for mapping or evaluating crop water requirements, crop suitability or climate change impacts over large areas. This paper studies the influence of the spatial variation of watertable fluctuations on vine water status at the scale of a 62 km² catchment, the Peyne catchment, located in the south of France. Watertable levels and vine water status were monitored over a set of 33 sites, sampling the main soil and landscape units of the study area. An integrated indicator of vineyard water status during the vegetative season, the carbon isotopic discrimination ratio in grapes, was used to estimate the spatial variation of vine water status. On a subset of nine sites, it was compared to the observed minimum predawn leaf water potential over the vegetative season, which confirmed its relevance as an indicator. Variance analysis showed that the spatial variation of watertable levels explained 28% of the variation of the observed values of the carbon isotopic discrimination ratio. It also showed that the explained variance amounted to 40% when the initial soil water storage prior to the vegetative season was taken as an additional predictor. These results point out the need to take into account the variation of local hydrological conditions as imposed by watertables levels when studying the spatial variation of plant water status or soil water balance at the landscape level.     

Determination of long-term erosion rates in vineyards of Navarre (Spain) using botanical benchmarks

Grape production is an ancient and important activity, particularly in Spain. Within this country, Navarre is one of the best vine-producing regions. Despite the importance of the vine crop, any quantification of soil erosion rates on a pluri-decennial scale under this world-wide land use is scant. Considering that in Navarre grafting in vines was made until the 1990s directly in the field, and almost at soil surface level, the quantification of erosion/sedimentation rates around a single plant can be performed by using the large, identifiable callus forming around the graft as a palaeo-surface marker. Moreover, by sampling a number of vines evenly spread over the field, an erosion/sedimentation pattern within the study vineyards can also be defined by data interpolation. Our purpose in this paper is thus (i) to assess the erosion rates of vineyards of different ages in a Mediterranean area using the aforementioned botanical signal i.e., grafting callus, and (ii) to determine the topographic changes caused by the erosion processes in these fields. Some vineyards affected by soil erosion were selected to carry out our experiments.     

行间生草对葡萄园土壤微生物学特征的影响

【目的】探讨行间生草对葡萄园土壤微生物学特征的影响。【方法】在葡萄园行间分别种植白三叶草、紫花苜蓿和高羊茅,以清耕为对照,分别在葡萄萌芽期、开花期和果实成熟期,采集葡萄园行间种草区0~40 cm土样,对土壤微生物含量和土壤微生物量进行测定和分析。【结果】与清耕(对照)相比,在葡萄萌芽期、开花期和果实成熟期,各处理之间土壤细菌、真菌和放线菌含量差异大多达显著或极显著水平。各生草处理土壤细菌含量在开花期最高,放线菌含量在萌芽期最高。与清耕相比,白三叶草和紫花苜蓿处理提高了土壤微生物C(SMBC)和土壤微生物N(SMBN)含量;白三叶草和紫花苜蓿处理与高羊茅、清耕(对照)处理土壤SMBC和SMBN含量差异总体上达显著水平(P<0.05),而高羊茅处理与清耕土壤SMBC无显著差异,SMBN差异达显著水平。【结论】行间生草可以改善土壤的微生物学指标,其中以白三叶草和紫花苜蓿效果较为明显。     

A wireless sensor network for precision viticulture: The NAV system

In the last decade, wireless technologies have been increasingly applied in precision agriculture. Wireless monitoring systems in particular have been used in precision viticulture in order to understand vineyard variability, and therefore suggest appropriate management practices for improving the quality of the wines.The NAV (Network Avanzato per il Vigneto – Advanced Vineyard Network) system is a wireless sensor network designed and developed with the aim of remote real-time monitoring and collecting of micro-meteorological parameters in a vineyard. The system includes a base agrometeorological station (Master Unit) and a series of peripheral wireless nodes (Slave Units) located in the vineyard. The Master Unit is a typical single point monitoring station placed outside the vineyard in a representative site to collect agrometeorological data. It utilizes a wireless technology for data communication and transmission with the Slave Units and remote central server. The Slave Units are multiple stations placed in the vineyard and equipped with agrometeorological sensors for site-specific environmental monitoring, which store and transmit data to the Master Unit. Software was developed for setup and configuration functionality. A graphical user interface operating on the remote central server was implemented to collect and process data and provide real-time control. The devices were tested in a three-step process: hardware functionality and data acquisition, energy consumption and communication. The NAV system is a complete monitoring system that gave flexibility for planning and installation, which fully responded to the objectives of the work in terms of energy efficiency and performance.     

行间生草葡萄园土壤微生物量与土壤养分的通径分析

在酿酒葡萄(Vitis vinifera)园行间播种白三叶草(Trifolium repens L.)、紫花苜蓿(Medicago sativa L.)和高羊茅(Festuca arundinacea Schreb),以清耕为对照,研究了土壤微生物量、土壤微生物呼吸强度和土壤微生物熵的变化及其与土壤养分的关系。结果表明:与清耕(对照)相比,白三叶草和紫花苜蓿处理显著提高了土壤有机质、全氮含量,显著降低了速效磷含量;而高羊茅处理土壤有机质和速效钾含量显著低于清耕。白三叶草、紫花苜蓿和高羊茅处理土壤微生物量C含量分别比清耕增加65.2%,61.6%和6.7%;微生物量N含量分别比清耕增加53.6%,52.4%和15.0%。各生草处理土壤微生物熵均显著高于清耕,但土壤微生物呼吸强度与清耕之间无显著差异。微生物学指标总体与土壤有机质、全氮、碱解氮、速效钾呈显著或极显著正相关,与全磷和速效磷呈显著或极显著负相关。通径分析表明,碱解氮、全氮是影响土壤微生物量C、N和微生物呼吸强度、微生物熵重要的直接作用因子。