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Effects of cover crops on grapevines, yield, juice composition, soil microbial ecology, and gopher activity

journal contribution
posted on 2005-03-01, 00:00 authored by C A Ingels, K M Scow, Desley WhissonDesley Whisson, R E Drenovsky
Several cover crop mixes were planted in a winegrape vineyard in Sacramento County to test their effects on vine growth, production, juice composition, soil microbial ecology, and gopher activity over a three-year period (1998 to 2000). The trial was conducted in a Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot vineyard on a silt loam soil. Vines were planted in 1993 on 5BB rootstock, spaced 2.1 x 3.4 m. The mixes used were: California native perennial grass (no-till), annual clover (no-till), green manure (disked), cereals (disked), and disked control. Cover crops were planted on either side of entire rows, with a disked alley separating treatment replicates. A 1.2-m herbicide strip was maintained under the vines. Drip irrigation and fertigation were applied uniformly across all treatments, but additional nitrogen fertilizer was applied to the grass mixes. Weed biomass increased in the clover mix but decreased in the native grass mix. Grapevine petiole nitrogen content was highest in the bell bean mix and very low in the native grass mix. There were very few differences in leaf water potential or pruning weights of the vines, and in yields or juice Brix, pH, or titratable acidity in any year. Cover-cropped soils had greater microbial biomass than disked or berm soils, and the no-till mixes had greater microbial biomass than the disked mixes. Gophers were very numerous in 1999 only, with nearly all activity exclusively in the clover mix.

History

Journal

American journal of enology and viticulture

Volume

56

Issue

1

Pagination

19 - 29

Publisher

American Society for Enology and Viticulture

Location

Davis, Calif.

ISSN

0002-9254

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2005, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture