Shifting Long-Term Tillage to Geotextile Mulching for Weed Control Improves Soil Quality and Yield of Orange Orchards

Weed control in urban and peri-urban orange orchards is challenging due to operational and legislative restrictions. Tillage, besides from negatively affecting soil fertility and microorganisms, is demanding for humans. On the other hand, herbicides are advised against due to the possibility to reach waterbodies from the soil surface. Therefore, in urban and peri-urban areas, instead of tillage and herbicides, mulching with black plastic geotextile fabric is often used. This study aimed at assessing the impact of long-term soil mulching with black plastic geotextile fabric on soil fertility, microbial community and yield of an orange orchard in comparison to conventional tillage. To this ai…