0000000000255684
AUTHOR
M. Campoy
Soil structural stability and erosion rates influenced by agricultural management practices in a semi-arid Mediterranean agro-ecosystem
Unsuitable agricultural practices can cause loss in soil quality and erodibility to thus increase or trigger desertification under Mediterranean conditions. A field experiment was performed at the El Teularet-Sierra de Enguera Experimental Station (eastern Spain) to assess the influence during a 5-yr period of different agricultural practices on physical and chemical indicators of soil quality (total and water-soluble carbohydrates, glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP), total organic carbon, aggregate stability (AS), vegetation cover and soil erosion). The management practices included residual herbicide use, ploughing, ploughing + oats, addition of oat straw mulch and a control (land aban…
Soil microbial biomass and activity under different agricultural management systems in a semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystem
Abstract A field experiment was carried out in a semiarid agricultural Mediterranean area located at the “El Teularet” experimental field in the Enguera Sierra (Valencia, southeast Spain) to assess the influence of different agricultural management systems on indicators of soil biological quality and activity (microbial biomass C, basal respiration, C mineralization coefficients, metabolic quotient (qCO2), respiratory quotient (RQ: moles CO2 evolved/moles O2 consumed), soluble C and dehydrogenase, urease, protease-BAA, phosphatase and β-glucosidase activities), one year after treatment establishment. The management practices assayed were as follows: application of the herbicides paraquat, g…