Erosión y desertificación.-Control de la pérdida de suelo en viñedos con cubiertas de gramíneas. Efecto del laboreo

Abstract

ABSTRACT A study has been carried out about the use of plant cover treatment to avoid land degradation in a hillside rainfed vineyard in Madrid under Mediterranean semiarid climate. Three treatments were tested: traditional tillage (“lab”), soil covered by Brachypodium distachyon (“bra”) with self-sowing; soil covered by Secale cereale (“sec”), mown in Spring. Three erosion plots per treatment were placed in the middle of the strips and 2 simulated rainfalls were carried out at each plot in autumn, before and after the tillage. The cover crop treatments were efficient to control erosion and runoff, with significant differences respect traditional tillage. Comparing the soil loss before and after tillage, it was significantly higher in “lab” treatment after the tillage works. The runoff differences among the rainfalls was not significant, due to the fact that the tillage was carried out following the slope direction, and also to the higher soil moisture at the time of the second simulated rainfall.