Terroir 2008 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Soil management of interrow spacing as an important factor to protect the vineyard soils from runoff and erosion under the Mediterranean climate

Soil management of interrow spacing as an important factor to protect the vineyard soils from runoff and erosion under the Mediterranean climate

Abstract

Nearly one third of the Herault vineyard (south of France) is planted on soils very sensitive to water runoff and erosion. This sensitivity is reinforced by the Mediterranean rain regime, characterized by sudden and violent rainfalls during autumn and spring, by the slopes of the plots, the bare surface of the inter-row spacing and the poor organic matter content of the upper part of these soils. The effects on the vine landscapes and production can be noticeable.
The soil management is one of the more influent parameters on the risk of runoff and erosion. By now, most of the vineyard soils are maintained bare all the year round by either soil tillage or chemical weeding.
A 7-years experiment (2000-2006) was set up on a 1 ha surface plot to compare the effects of soil management on runoff, soil erosion and agronomic results. It aimed to compare chemical weedings (antisprouting or defoliating herbicides), soil tillage and permanent grass covering 50% of the surface. Results show that permanent grass cover reduces runoff by nearly 50 % compared to chemical weeding, thanks to a better infiltrability. This leads to a significant decrease of erosion with a cover grass (1.4 T/ha/y) compared to chemical weeding (8.5 T/ha/y).
There were few effects on the production : the grass cover induces less yield (-16%) and less growth (-27% in weight) compared to the rest of the plot.
The soil was little affected by the cultural practices. The main result is that the grass cover made the soil microbiology live again, with an increase of 48% of the total microbial biomass.
The results of this experiment are significant enough to give advice on the best way to manage the vine according to the plot characteristics, to avoid runoff and erosion.

DOI:

Publication date: December 8, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2008

Type : Article

Authors

William TRAMBOUZE (1), Patrick ANDRIEUX (2), Guillaume COULOUMA (2), Patrick ZANTE (3), Nathalie GOMA-FORTIN (1)

(1) Chambre d’Agriculture de l’Hérault, 15 rue Victor Hugo, F-34120 Pézenas, France
(2) INRA, UMR LISAH (INRA-IRD-Supagro), Campus SupAgro bâtiment 24, 2 pl. Pierre Viala, F-34060 Montpellier Cedex, France
(3) IRD, UMR LISAH (INRA-IRD-Supagro), Campus SupAgro bâtiment 24, 2 pl. Pierre Viala, F-34060 Montpellier Cedex, France

Contact the author

Keywords

Vigne, Erosion, Ruissellement, Pratiques culturales, Biologie du sol

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2008

Citation

Related articles…

Impact of environmental conditions in vscs production during wine fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The aroma of wine is one of the most important determinants of quality as it strongly influences the consumer’s acceptance or rejection. Among the thousands of molecules comprising the wine aroma, sulfur-containing compounds can be considered as a “double-edged sword”: some of them, deriving from varietal precursors provide fruity pleasant aromas, while other ones, produced by yeast metabolism are related to “unpleasant” aromas

The antioxidant properties of wine lees extracts in model wine

While the ethanol and tartaric acid contained in wine lees are typically recovered by distilleries, the remaining solid fraction (yeast biomass) is usually disposed of, thus negatively affecting the overall sustainability of the wine industry.

Effect of spray with autochthonous Trichoderma strains and its secondary metabolites on the quality of Tempranillo grape

Trichoderma is one of the most widely used fungal biocontrol agents on vineyards due to its multiple benefits on this crop, such as its fungicidal and growth promoting capacity. In this work, we have analyzed the effect on the concentration of nutrients in grapevine leaves and on the quality of the grape must after spraying an autochthonous strain of Trichoderma harzianum and one of the main secondary metabolites produced by this genus, 6-pentyl-α-pyrone (6PP).

New ways of grape pomaces valorization: production of functional beverages or nutraceuticals

The wine industry generates each year 20 million tons of by-products. Among them grape pomaces represent a big part that can be considered as a source of potentially bioactive molecules such as polyphenols. Kombucha fermentation is an ancestral process which allow to increase the biological properties of tea by the action of a microbial consortium formed by yeasts and bacteria called scoby.

Des enjeux individuels à l’action collective

With the Federation of Wine Syndicates of Anjou and the Wine Syndicate of Angevin for direct sale to the Property, the Higher School of Agriculture of Angers was led to carry out, in 1995, a survey of winegrowers in Maine and Loire, with a view to grouping the supply of some of the wines intended for direct sale (Huet, 1995).