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Publication
Effect of ground cover on soil carbon storage in a citrus orchard: challenges and preliminary results.
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Fruit tree crops, as a relevant agricultural sector, have great importance in the sequestration of atmospheric carbon and its stock in the soil. A vast area of citrus orchards is found in the Mediterranean region, an area prone to soil degradation and desertification. Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, such as permanent soil cover in orchards, can contribute to maintaining their productivity, protecting them from erosion, increasing the level of organic matter and increasing the stock of organic carbon.
This study aimed to determine the organic carbon stored in the soil up to 20 cm depth in citrus orchards under different soil management systems. An experiment was carried out in a ‘Nadorcott’ mandarin orchard where measurements were performed both in the tree rows (between the trees in the ridges) and in the inter-rows (between ridges). Two treatments were tested: A) tree row without ground cover and inter-row covered with spontaneous herbaceous vegetation and B) tree row with almond shell mulching and inter-row with a permanent cover of sown herbaceous vegetation. Soil organic matter varied between 1.97 ± 0.14 % in the tree row without ground cover and 4.68 ± 0.03 % in the inter-row with spontaneous vegetation cover. Regarding the organic carbon stocked in the soil of the orchard, mean values of 25.04 ± 1.15 Mg C ha-1 were obtained in treatment A) and 31.24 ± 3.98 Mg C ha-1 in treatment B).
Description
Keywords
Almond shell Ground cover Mandarin Mulching Organic carbon Organic matter Sustainability
Citation
Reis, A.; Duarte, B.; Duarte, A. 2024. Effect of ground cover on soil carbon storage in a citrus orchard: challenges and preliminary results. Acta Hortic. 1399, 491-498. DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1399.61