Implication of Urochloa spp. Intercropping and Conservation Agriculture on Soil Microbiological Quality and Yield of Tahiti Acid Lime in Long Term Orchard Experiment

Ana Carolina Costa Arantes, Simone Raposo Cotta, Patrícia Marluci da Conceição, Silvana Perissatto Meneghin, Rodrigo Martinelli, Alexandre Gonçalves Próspero, Rodrigo Marcelli Boaretto, Fernando Dini Andreote, Dirceu Mattos-Jr. and Fernando Alves de Azevedo
Additional contact information
Ana Carolina Costa Arantes: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil
Simone Raposo Cotta: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, Centenário Avenue, n°303, Piracicaba, SP 13400-970, Brazil
Patrícia Marluci da Conceição: Departamento de Desenvolvimento Rural, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Anhanguera Road, Km 174, Araras, SP 13600-970, Brazil
Silvana Perissatto Meneghin: Departamento de Biotecnologia Produção Vegetal e Animal, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Anhanguera Road, Km 174, Araras, SP 13600-970, Brazil
Rodrigo Martinelli: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil
Alexandre Gonçalves Próspero: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil
Rodrigo Marcelli Boaretto: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil
Fernando Dini Andreote: Departamento de Ciência do Solo, Escola Superior Luiz de Queiroz, Universidade de São Paulo, Pádua Dias Avenue, n°11, Piracicaba, SP 13418-260, Brazil
Dirceu Mattos-Jr.: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil
Fernando Alves de Azevedo: Instituto Agronômico, Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira, Anhaguera Road, Km 158, PoBox 04, Cordeirópolis, SP 13490-970, Brazil

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: Techniques such as intercropping and minimum tillage improve soil quality, including soil microbial activity, which stimulates the efficient use of soil resources by plants. However, the effects of such practices in soil under citrus orchards have not been well characterized. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of mowing and intercrop species on soil microbiological characteristics beneath a Tahiti acid lime orchard. The orchard was planted using minimum tillage and intercropped with two species of Urochloa species ( U. ruziziensis —ruzi grass; U. decumbens —signal grass), with two types of mowers for Urochloa biomass (ecological; conventional) and herbicide applications. The study was conducted over 10 years. The ecological mower made the largest deposition of the intercrop biomass, thus providing the lowest disturbance of soil microbial activity and increasing, on average over all 10 years, the basal soil respiration (45%), microbial biomass carbon (25%), abundance of 16S rRNA (1.5%) and ITS (3.5%) genes, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (30%), and providing a ca. 20% higher fruit yield. U. ruziziensis in combination with ecological mowing stimulated the abundance of the genes nif H (1.5%) and pho D (3.0%). The herbicide showed little influence. We conclude that the use of U. ruziziensis as an intercrop in citrus orchards subjected to ecological mowing can be recommended for improving and sustaining soil quality and citrus fruit production.

Keywords: mulching; cover crops; conservation agriculture; citrus; soil microbial community (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/11/491/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/11/491/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:11:p:491-:d:432821

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().