The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard
Soil erosion has been considered a threat for semi-arid lands due to the removal of solid materials by water and wind. Although water erosion is currently considered the most important process of soil degradation, a growing interest has been drawn to the impact of soil tillage. Although numerous stu...
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doaj-ab18e16632db466798a002f36f699c742021-04-02T04:13:33ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952019-05-019525710.3390/agronomy9050257agronomy9050257The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid VineyardAgata Novara0Giovanni Stallone1Artemio Cerdà2Luciano Gristina3Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie Forestali e Ambientali, University of Palermo, viale delle Scienze 4, 90100 Palermo, ItalyDipartimento di Scienze Agrarie Forestali e Ambientali, University of Palermo, viale delle Scienze 4, 90100 Palermo, ItalySoil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, SpainDipartimento di Scienze Agrarie Forestali e Ambientali, University of Palermo, viale delle Scienze 4, 90100 Palermo, ItalySoil erosion has been considered a threat for semi-arid lands due to the removal of solid materials by water and wind. Although water erosion is currently considered the most important process of soil degradation, a growing interest has been drawn to the impact of soil tillage. Although numerous studies on tillage erosion have been carried out on arable land using a moldboard plow, a chisel, and a tandem disc for different crops, there are no studies on the effect of shallow tillage on soil redistribution in vineyards. The aim of this work was to evaluate the soil tillage erosion rate in a vineyard using a <sup>13</sup>C natural abundance tracer. A strip of soil (C<sub>3</sub>-C soil) was removed, mixed with C<sub>4</sub>-C tracer, and replaced. After the installation of the strip, tillage (upslope in one inter-row and downslope in the other inter-row) was performed with a cultivator and soil was collected along the slope with an interval of 0.2 m from the C<sub>4</sub>-C strip. Soil organic carbon and δ<sup>13</sup>C were measured and the total mass of translocated soil (<i>T</i>) soil was calculated. The net effect of tillage after two consecutive operations (downslope and upslope tillage) was a <i>T</i> of 49.3 ± 4.2 kg m<sup>−1</sup>. The estimated annual erosion rate due to tillage in the studied vineyard was 9.5 ± 1.2 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup>year<sup>−1</sup>. The contribution of the soil tillage erosion rate was compared with that of water erosion in the same vineyard, and we conclude that tillage is a threat to soil degradation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/9/5/257tillage erosionvineyardssoil translocation<sup>13</sup>C natural abundance |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Agata Novara Giovanni Stallone Artemio Cerdà Luciano Gristina |
spellingShingle |
Agata Novara Giovanni Stallone Artemio Cerdà Luciano Gristina The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard Agronomy tillage erosion vineyards soil translocation <sup>13</sup>C natural abundance |
author_facet |
Agata Novara Giovanni Stallone Artemio Cerdà Luciano Gristina |
author_sort |
Agata Novara |
title |
The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard |
title_short |
The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard |
title_full |
The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard |
title_fullStr |
The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Effect of Shallow Tillage on Soil Erosion in a Semi-Arid Vineyard |
title_sort |
effect of shallow tillage on soil erosion in a semi-arid vineyard |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Agronomy |
issn |
2073-4395 |
publishDate |
2019-05-01 |
description |
Soil erosion has been considered a threat for semi-arid lands due to the removal of solid materials by water and wind. Although water erosion is currently considered the most important process of soil degradation, a growing interest has been drawn to the impact of soil tillage. Although numerous studies on tillage erosion have been carried out on arable land using a moldboard plow, a chisel, and a tandem disc for different crops, there are no studies on the effect of shallow tillage on soil redistribution in vineyards. The aim of this work was to evaluate the soil tillage erosion rate in a vineyard using a <sup>13</sup>C natural abundance tracer. A strip of soil (C<sub>3</sub>-C soil) was removed, mixed with C<sub>4</sub>-C tracer, and replaced. After the installation of the strip, tillage (upslope in one inter-row and downslope in the other inter-row) was performed with a cultivator and soil was collected along the slope with an interval of 0.2 m from the C<sub>4</sub>-C strip. Soil organic carbon and δ<sup>13</sup>C were measured and the total mass of translocated soil (<i>T</i>) soil was calculated. The net effect of tillage after two consecutive operations (downslope and upslope tillage) was a <i>T</i> of 49.3 ± 4.2 kg m<sup>−1</sup>. The estimated annual erosion rate due to tillage in the studied vineyard was 9.5 ± 1.2 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup>year<sup>−1</sup>. The contribution of the soil tillage erosion rate was compared with that of water erosion in the same vineyard, and we conclude that tillage is a threat to soil degradation. |
topic |
tillage erosion vineyards soil translocation <sup>13</sup>C natural abundance |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/9/5/257 |
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