The Impact of Different Cover Crops, Mechanical Cultivation and Herbicide Treatment on The Soil Quality Variables and Yield in Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) Orchard with a Coarse-Textured Soil

Abstract

Effects of different cover crops on soil quality parameters and yield of an apple orchard located in Develi town of Kayseri province of Turkey were investigated in this study. Trifolium repens L. (TR), Festuca rubra subsp. rubra (FRR), Festuca arundinacea (FA), T. repens (40%) + F. rubra rubra (30%) + F. arundinacea (30%) mixture (TFF), Vicia villosa (VV) and Trifolium  eneghinianum (TM) were used as the cover crops in an apple orchard with sandy loam soil. Experiments also included plots mechanically cultivated (MC), herbicide treatment (HC) and control (C) plot without cover crops. Soil samples were taken from two different depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm) in each plot. Experiments were conducted in randomized complete blocks design with four replications. The cover crop treatments improved soil quality parameters like organic matter (OM), basal soil respiration, bulk density (BD), aggregate stability, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), available water capacity compared to the soil of a nontreated control plot. Mean OM contents at 0-20 cm soil depth was ordered as; HC (0.56%)<C(0.62%)<MC(0.67%)<FRR(1.03%)<TM(1.06%)<TFF(1.09%)<FA(1.10%)<VV(1.34%)<TR(1.36%).The highest cover crop dry biomass mean was found in TFF treatment (45.5 ton ha-1), and the lowest was found in TM treatment (2.6 ton ha-1) in the apple orchard. While the highest mean apple yield was obtained from VV (23.9 ton ha-1) and TR (23.8 ton ha-1) treatments, the lowest mean apple yield (13.7 ton ha-1) was obtained from MC treatment. It was concluded based on the obtained findings that cover crops, especially Trifolium repens and Vicia villosa could be incorporated into cropping systems to improve soil quality and apple yield.

Keywords

• Cover crops
• Organic matter
• Sandy loam soil
• Soil quality
• Available water capacity
• Yield

References

1. Bandyopadhyay K K, Hati K M & Singh R (2009). Management Options for Improving Soil Physical Environment for Sustainable Agricultural Production: A Brief Review. Journal of Agricultural Physics, 9:1-8.
2. Candemir F & Gülser C (2010). Effects of different agricultural wastes on some soil quality indexes in clay and loamy sand fields. Communication in Soil Science and Plant Analyses, 42(1):13-28.
3. Cavigelli M A & Thien S J (2003). Phosphorus bioavailability following incorporation of green manure crops. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 67:1186–1194.
4. Demir Z & Gülser C (2015). Effects of rice husk compost application on soil quality parameters in greenhouse conditions. European Journal Soil Science, 4 (3):185–190.
5. Demir Z, Tursun N & Işık D (2019). Effects of different cover crops on soil quality parameters and yield in an apricot orchard. Intl. J. Agric. Biol., 21: 399‒408.
6. Fageria N K, Baligar V C & Bailey B A (2005). Role of Cover Crops in Improving Soil and Row Crop Productivity. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 36: 2733–2757.
7. Garcia, R A & Rosolem C A (2010). Aggregates in a Rhodic Ferralsol under no-tillage and crop rotation. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 45: 1489-1498.
8. Gselman A & Kramberger B (2008). Benefits of winter legume cover crops requireearly sowing. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 59:1156–1163.

9. Gülser C (2006). Effect of forage cropping treatments on soil structure and relationships with fractal dimensions. Geoderma, 131:33–44.
10. Harrington K. C., Hartley M. J., Rahman A., James T. K. 2005. Long Term Ground Cover Optıons For Apple Orchards. New Zealand Plant Protection, 58:164-168.
11. Hillel D (1982). Introduction to Soil Phyics. Academic Press Limited, p. 14-28. Oval Road, London.
12. Hoagland L, Carpenter-Boggs L, Granatstein D, Mazzola M, Smith J, Peryea F & Reganold J P (2008). Orchard floor management effects on nitrogen fertility and soil biological activity in a newly established organic apple orchard. Biol Fert Soils 45:11–18.
13. Isermayer H (1952). Eine einfache Methode Zur Bestimmung Der Bodenatmung Und der Karbonate imBoden. Z. Pflanzenaehr. Bodenkd, 5:56-60.
14. Kacar B (2014). Chemical Analysis of Plant and Soil-III. Soil Analysis, 705. Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara, Turkey. No. 3.
15. Kladivko E J (2001). Tillage systems and soil ecology. Soil Tillage Research, 61:61–76.Leo W M (1963). A rapid method for estimating structural stability of soils. Soil Science, 96:342-346.
16. Price A J & Norsworthy K (2013). Cover crops for Weed Management in Southernreduce-tillage vegetable cropping systems. Weed Technology, 27:212–217.
17. Ramos M E, Benitez E, Garcia P A & Robles A B (2010). Cover crops under different managements vs. frequent tillage in almond orchards in semiarid conditions: effects on soil quality. Applied Soil Ecology, 44:6–14.
18. Ruffo M L & Bollero G A (2003). Modeling rye and hairy vetch residue decomposition as a function of degree days and decomposition days. Agronomy Journal, 95: 900–907.
19. Soil Survey Staff (2014). Kellogg soil survey laboratory methods manual. Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 42, version 5.0. Burt R. et al. (eds). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, p. 279–281.
20. Steele M K, Coale F J & Hill R L (2012). Winter annual cover crop impacts on no-till soil physical properties and organic matter. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 76:2164–2173.
21. Stolze M, Piorr A, Haring A & Dabbert S (2000). The Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe. Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy. University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. 6:127.
22. Stott D E, Andrews S S, Liebig M A, Wienhold B J & Karlen D L (2010). Evaluation of b-glucosidase activity as a soil quality indicator for the Soil Management Assessment Framework. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 74:107–119.
23. Sultani M I, Gill M A, Anwar M M & Athar M (2007). Evaluation of soil physical properties as influenced by various green manuring legumes and phosphorus fertilization under rain fed conditions. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 4(1):109-118.
24. Tüzüner A (2018). Soil, Fertilizer, Water, Plant, Organic material and microbiology analysis mothods. Soil, Fertilizer and Water Resources Central Research Institute, Technical Pub. No: T-72. II. Press. Ankara, Turkey.
25. Vavoulidu E, Dimirkou A, Papadopoulos P, Avramides E J & Arapakis D (2004). A comparative study for the control of organic agriculture in a region of Greece. 17th Word Congress of Soil Science, Bangkok, Thailand.
26. Yurtsever N (2011). Experimental statistical methods. Soil, Fertilizer and Water Research Institute, Technical Pub. No.: 56, Pub. No.: 121, Ankara, (in Turkish).