Soil Management Strategies in Organic Almond Orchards: Implications for Soil Rehabilitation and Nut Quality
Belén Cárceles Rodríguez,
Víctor Hugo Durán Zuazo,
Juan Francisco Herencia Galán,
Leontina Lipan,
Miguel Soriano,
Francisca Hernández,
Esther Sendra,
Ángel Antonio Carbonell-Barrachina,
Baltasar Gálvez Ruiz,
Iván Francisco García-Tejero
Affiliations
Belén Cárceles Rodríguez
IFAPA Centro “Camino de Purchil”, Camino de Purchil s/n, 18004 Granada, Spain
Víctor Hugo Durán Zuazo
IFAPA Centro “Camino de Purchil”, Camino de Purchil s/n, 18004 Granada, Spain
Juan Francisco Herencia Galán
IFAPA Centro “Las Torres”, Carretera Sevilla-Alcalá del Río km 12.2, Alcalá del Río, 41200 Sevilla, Spain
Leontina Lipan
Research Group “Food Quality and Safety”, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University, Carretera de Beniel, km 3.2, Orihuela, 03312 Alicante, Spain
Miguel Soriano
Centre for Intensive Mediterranean Agrosystems and Agri-Food Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), Agronomy Department, University of Almería, Carretera Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain
Francisca Hernández
Research Group “Food Quality and Safety”, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University, Carretera de Beniel, km 3.2, Orihuela, 03312 Alicante, Spain
Esther Sendra
Research Group “Food Quality and Safety”, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University, Carretera de Beniel, km 3.2, Orihuela, 03312 Alicante, Spain
Ángel Antonio Carbonell-Barrachina
Research Group “Food Quality and Safety”, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University, Carretera de Beniel, km 3.2, Orihuela, 03312 Alicante, Spain
Baltasar Gálvez Ruiz
IFAPA Centro “Camino de Purchil”, Camino de Purchil s/n, 18004 Granada, Spain
Iván Francisco García-Tejero
IFAPA Centro “Las Torres”, Carretera Sevilla-Alcalá del Río km 12.2, Alcalá del Río, 41200 Sevilla, Spain
The implementation of soil conservation measures is essential to promote sustainable crop production in the Mediterranean region. In an organic rainfed almond orchard located in Lanjarón (SE, Spain), a study carried out during 2016–2021 analyzed the influence of different soil management strategies (SMSs) (TT, traditional tillage; NT, no tillage; VF, cover of Vicia faba; VS, cover of Vicia sativa; VS-VE, cover of Vicia sativa and Vicia ervilia) on some selected physical (bulk density, available water content, and aggregate stability), chemical (pH, electrical conductivity, soil-organic content, N, P, K, and micronutrients), and biological (microbial activity) soil properties, relevant to soil health, and their implications for yield and almond quality (physical and chemical). Our results showed that the SMS with legume cover improves soil properties, which had a favorable effect on soil health. The mean almond yield was not significantly affected by the SMS applied, being 315.9, 256.4, 229.1, 212.5, and 176.6 kg ha−1 year−1 for TT, VF, VS-VE, VS, and NT, respectively. Regarding the almond nut quality, the strategy based on implementation of legume cover increased the almond antioxidant activity and the total polyphenol content, which would improve their nutritional value. Here we showed how the use of sustainable SMSs improved the soil properties compared to traditional tillage in rainfed organic almonds, allowing the long-term sustainability of agroecosystems while at the same time obtaining higher nutritional quality almonds.
