Changes in Soil Quality through Conservation Agriculture in North-Eastern Italy

Marco Pittarello, Francesca Chiarini, Cristina Menta, Lorenzo Furlan and Paolo Carletti
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Marco Pittarello: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy
Francesca Chiarini: Veneto Agricoltura, Settore Ricerca Agraria, U.O. Colture Estensive e Allevamento, Viale dell’Università 14, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy
Cristina Menta: Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze 11/A, 43124 Parma, PR, Italy
Lorenzo Furlan: Veneto Agricoltura, Settore Ricerca Agraria, U.O. Colture Estensive e Allevamento, Viale dell’Università 14, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy
Paolo Carletti: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Conservation Agriculture includes practices focused on the conservation and the restoration of main soil features, such as organic carbon content, structure, and biological diversity and activity. Our study was conducted in three farms in North-Eastern Italy in pairs of closely located fields to compare conservation agriculture (no tillage, cover cropping) with conventional agriculture. Differences in terms of soil enzymatic activity, such as FDA and β-glucosidase through spectrophotometric analyses, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents, total organic carbon, and nitrogen contents with CNS Elemental Analyzer and soil arthropod community via the QBS-ar index were investigated. Enzymatic activities resulted to be readily and positively affected by conservation agriculture whereas total and microbial carbon, nitrogen contents, and microarthropod community seemed to be more dependent on the time factor. The responses to conservation agriculture differed between the three farms, pointing out that differences in soil features may drive the effectiveness of conservation management. N stock, maybe dependent on previous soil management, might be the key characteristic able to influence soil evolution in the studied conditions. The present results could be helpful to predict soil reaction to sustainable agriculture in short periods.

Keywords: crop rotation; no tillage; soil quality; QBS-ar; conventional/conservation agriculture; soil biodiversity (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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