Implications of organic mulch composition derived from agriculture and livestock production on grapevine behaviour and microbial communities

Abstract

Climate change substantially challenges winegrowing regions, threatening terroir stability through heatwaves, altered precipitation patterns, and increased drought frequency. Additionally, intense rainfall events associated with climate change exacerbate soil erosion and degradation, resulting in substantial soil loss that compromises vineyard resilience and long-term sustainability. Within the soil management practices based on circular economy, the use of mulches has emerged as a key strategy for conserving water in arid and semi-arid environments and for protecting soils from erosion. However, mulch effectiveness depends on climate conditions and properties of the mulch material. Therefore, we aim to elucidate the impact of under-vine organic mulches based on agricultural waste and livestock by-products compared with conventional management on grapevine water status, growth, yield and soil health. Results showed that organic mulches accounted for a better water status, vegetative growth and yield compared to bare-soil treatment, these differences being responsive to the mulch composition. Regarding soil microbiota, organic mulching based on agricultural wastes increased microbial metabolic diversity and community composition, whereas mulches based on sheep wool decreased heterotrophic microorganism diversity. According to our results the use of organic mulches can be a good alternative for under-vine soil management for improving grapevine performance, but these benefits are dependent on irrigation management. On the other hand, this work highlighted the implication of mulch composition for improving soil biological quality (higher microbial metabolic diversity and community composition). Therefore, circular economy-based solutions need to be thought considering that the choice of mulch type largely depends on local availability, the proximity to by-products from other industries, such as agriculture or livestock production, and the vineyard characteristics.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted within the frame of two projects, AQUAVITIS funded by Navarra Government and MYKOVINE project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (REF PID2023-151788OA-I00). N. Torres is beneficiary of a Ramón y Cajal Grant RYC2021-034586-I funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”. M. Velaz is beneficiary of a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA). Special thanks to Jesús Astrain, Juan Glaría (Bodegas Pagos de Araiz), Nahiara Juanena and Aitziber Larrea (Bodega Otazu), and Adriana Ojer and Alain Flores (Artilezko nomadak) for their assistance during measurements and maintenance of the experimental setup.