Application of organic carbon status indicators on vineyard soils: the case study of DOC Piave (Veneto region, Italy)

According to the Kyoto Protocol objectives, it’s necessary to identify alternative carbon dioxide sinks, and vineyard soils could be a significant opportunity. A set of soil organic carbon status indicators, proposed by JRC (Stolbovoy, 2006), was tested on vineyard soils of DOC Piave area (Veneto region) to validate it. Information available in the regional soil database for the study area (Soil Maps of Treviso and Venice provinces at 1:50,000 scale with 614 soil profiles on about 150,000 ha, 5% of which with vineyards) was analysed to point out significant relationships between soil organic carbon content, soil type and land uses. An approach for functional soil groups was adopted: the soil typological units were grouped on the basis of texture, coarse fragments, drainage and physiography (Manni, 2007). The highest value, which differs statistically from the others, was observed in fine texture and poorly drained soils. Furthermore, vineyard soils showed higher content than crop soils, especially on the first 30 cm. But no significant differences were observed. Then, for each functional group and separately for vineyard and crop topsoil and subsoil, a set of soil organic carbon status indicators were defined. The results showed higher capacity to sequestrate carbon on vineyard topsoil. The present study allows an overview of the DOC Piave area carbon pool and highlights priorities areas where policy interventions should be concentrated.