Agronomic practices change the patterns of soil glomalin in olive rainfed orchards Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Glomalin, a thermostable hydrophobic glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, plays an important role in the stability of soil aggregates and in the sequestration of C, N and heavy metals, being their concentrations dependent from agronomic practices such as tillage and application of pesticides and fertilizers. Despite the recognized importance of glomalin in soil quality, studies on olive groves are scarce. The study conducted on summer 2017 in three different rain fed orchards (cv. Cobran~osa) of Northeast Portugal revealed that both total glomalin, measured as Bradford-reactive soil protein (T-BRSP}, and the easily extractable Bradford-reactive soil protein (EE-BRSP) concentrations were lower under mechanical cultivation than on a permanent sward grazed with a flock of sheep or than on an annual legume cover crop. Moreover, higher TBRSP and EE-BRSP levels were found on orchards without phosphorus and boron supply, and also on the top soil layer (0.1 0 cm) and on tree row, mainly in younger orchards. Interestingly, one soil presented a twofold superior EE-BRSP: T- BRSP ratio than the other two soils, representing an increase of labile g lomalin, probably re lated with greater applications of copper formulations to control olive fungal diseases. This study demonstrated that less disruptive agronomic practices influences positivety the levels of glomalin, an appropriate indicator of healthy soil conditions, which in turn may favour carbon sequestration.
  • This work was funded by the INTERACT project - •Integrative Research in Environment, Agro-Chains and Technology': no. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000017, in its lines of research entitled I SAC, eo-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through NORTE 2020 (North Regional Operational Program 2014/2020).

publication date

  • January 1, 2018