ISHS Acta Horticulturae 525: International Conference on Integrated Fruit Production
EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT GROUNDCOVER MATERIALS TO PRESERVE SOIL WATER CONTENT IN A YOUNG APPLE ORCHARD |
| Authors: | L. Tamás, T. Bubán |
| Keywords: | groundcover management, groundcover materials, soil water content |
| Abstract:
One of the major effects of IFP compatible groundcover management is the prevention of the evaporative loss of soil water content. This study was designed to investigate the water preserving effectiveness of different groundcover materials. The apple (cv. Florina/M.26) orchard was established in 1994 with a drip irrigation system. Soil strips of 120 cm wide were either covered with straw, livestock manure, pine bark mulch, black polypropylene, or living mulch (Festuca pseudovina) or left without covering i.e. clean cultivation as a check (control). Water content of the 0–60 cm layer of the soil was measured using a portable presspush-probe (combined with soil penetrometers) between 2nd and 12th of July in 1996. The measurements were made one day before and 2, 6, 8 and 10 days after the irrigation of 20 litres/tree. The daily maximum air temperature was between 25 and 35°C, the minimum night temperature was above 10°C during this period and there was no rainfall. The water content of the soil decreased quickly under clean cultivation and under grass after the irrigation, but decreased more slowly under livestock manure, pine bark mulch and straw while under black polypropylene it remained nearly constant. The covering of the soil surface also affected the uniformity of distribution of the water in the soil; it proved to be both vertically and horizontally more uniform under effective covering materials compared to the clean cultivation. | |
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