Soil Fungal Communities in the Rhizosphere of Sauvignon Blanc Grapes Subjected to Various Agricultural Management Practices

Nativ Rotbart (), Tirza Doniger, Itaii Applebaum and Yosef Steinberger ()
Additional contact information
Nativ Rotbart: Shamir Research Institute, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Tirza Doniger: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
Itaii Applebaum: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
Yosef Steinberger: The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The quality and production of viticulture are profoundly shaped by climate and soil, which are vital for enhancing plant growth, maximizing productivity, and facilitating carbon sequestration and phytoremediation. Any degradation in soil quality resulting from production practices—such as salinization and increased acidity—jeopardizes the long-term sustainability of vineyard operations. It is crucial that we prioritize the health of our soil to ensure the future success of our vineyards. This study aims to (1) assess soil fungal diversity under various management practices, (2) compare the relative abundance of sequence reads for different taxa in response to these practices, and (3) analyze shifts in functional guild composition in relation to these management practices. In this investigation, the fungal community composition was analyzed using molecular tools across five locations with distinct land management practices on the same basaltic soil. The findings indicate that vineyard management practices had a substantial impact on fungal diversity, as evidenced by taxonomic alpha diversity metrics, with significant differences observed in comparison to natural pasture and open field conditions. A permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed a highly significant effect of management practices ( p < 0.0001) on fungal community structure. The land management practices were found to induce significant ( p < 0.05) differences in species diversity between organic sites (organic and conventional) and the natural control site. Furthermore, the composition and functionality of the fungal communities appear to be shaped by the distinct abiotic factors associated with different management strategies that increase the abundance of total soil microorganisms that are affecting the grape yield and its quality.

Keywords: biological activity; vineyards; conventional agriculture; foliage cover; fungal functional groups; fungal ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/667/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/667/ (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:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:4:p:667-:d:1617748

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

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