[Soil management techniques in fruit orchards]
1996
Darbellay, Ch. (Station federale de recherches en production vegetale de Changins, Conthey (Switzerland). Centre d'arboriculture et d'horticulture des Fougeres) | Fournier, F.
Three methods of soil management on the row in an apple orchard were compared: chemical weed control, soil cover with plastic film or bark mulch. The following parameters were assessed: water status, Nmin evolution, vegetative growth, and yields. Numerous soil profiles were dug to investigate the development of the root system as related to the treatments. The best results were obtained with the bark mulch, with higher yields and better environmental acceptability due to reduced herbicide applications and water pollution by nitrates. The plastic mulch gave rather good growth and yields, but put trees at a risk to be damaged by rodents. Moreover, the disposal of waste plastic is still a problem. Chemical weed control is the easy choice, but its agronomic and ecological results are not particularly good
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