Forest, 38

Pastures, 16

Other areas;

12

Agriculture, 34

State of knowledge on restoration of degraded agricultural land using

cover crops

COST ES1104. Sept. 2014 Timisoara

María José Marqués

Autonomous University of Madrid, ES

%

Frequently, agriculture involves soil tillage / herbicides bare soil

Use of tillage

• Soil conditioning Seedbed • Weed control • Incorporation and mixing of

fertilizers, manures, residues

Large-scale

• Water & Carbon cycle changes

• Soil and nutrient loss

• Desertification

Soil degradation, crusts, compaction, waterlogging,

PROBLEMS

Modified from: http://faculty.yc.edu/ycfaculty/ags105/week06/soil_water/soil_water_print.html

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5

Soil

Wat

er

Co

nte

nt

(c

m3/c

m3 s

oil

)

Soil Organic Carbon (%)

Field capacity

Perm. Wilting Point

1. Vegetative buffer zones

2. Direct Seeding / No Till

3. Cover crops in woody crops

Rel

ativ

e R

un

off

Vo

lum

e

C (%

)

Ruiz-Colmenero, M., Bienes, R., Eldridge, D.J. and Marqués, M.J. 2013. Vegetation cover reduces erosion and enhances soil organic carbon in a vineyard in the central Spain. Catena. 104, 153-160

Physical protection Increase of SOC

Synergy of Cover crops benefits

¿YIELD , AND QUALITY PRODUCTION?

high variability

+ SOC

- RUNOFF/EROSION

+ BIODIVERSITY

↑ STRUCTURE

Derpsch, R., Friedrich, T., Kassam, A. und Li, H.W., 2010. Current status of adoption of no-till farming in the world and some of its main benefits. Int. J. Agric. & Biol. Eng. Vol. 3. Nº 1

+ WATER AVAILABLE

89%

5.3%

0.2% 0.2%

4.9%

0.3%

0.2%

Vineyards tillages

spont. veg. Cov.

sown cover

inert cover

no maintenance

no tillage

no information

54% 26%

0.4%

1.2%

6% 12%

0.3%

Olive groves

Types of soil management practices in woody crops in Spain

Source: Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, data 2012

Gaps

• Why cover crops are not so practiced?

• Site specific demonstrations

• Land users tradition/awareness

• Economic assessment

• Organise information