The Impact of Organic Farming on Soil Mesofauna and Macrofauna in Mediterranean Orchards and Vineyards.

Agricultural land management in the Mediterranean has been based on tillage for millennia. Environmental concerns, mainly soil conservation issues, resulted in the development of no-tillage strategies and in the last 20 years the development of organic farming strategies with no chemicals involved and the use of organic materials as fertilizer. All this has resulted in an increase of soil organic matter, higher vegetation cover, higher infiltration rates, more microbiological activity, and a reduction of soil losses in agriculture lands. However, there has been little research about soil fauna changes. This research focused on the impact of organic farming on the mesofauna and macrofauna biomass and diversity in Mediterranean agriculture soils. Vineyards and olive and orange orchards were selected in a paired plot strategy in the Canyoles River watershed in Eastern Spain. Other soil parameters, such as organic matter content, soil moisture, bulk density, and soil type were also evaluated. The results show higher soil fauna numbers and diversity, based on the number of taxonomical orders, under organic farming management. The numbers of earthworms and other soil macrofauna were strongly dependent on irrigation systems; the highest densities of earthworms were at the flood-irrigated orchards, at orchards with drip irrigation the soil fauna was aggregated in the irrigated patches of soil.  The soil type was also an important determinant of earthworm density, with clay rich soils supporting higher numbers than marl and coarse-textured soils, where the rock fragments are abundant.

Acknowledgements

This research received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 603498 (RECARE project).