scholarly journals Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 3.1 ‘Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Francaviglia ◽  
Antonio Melchiorre Carroni ◽  
Paola Ruda ◽  
Mauro Salis ◽  
Paolo Bazzoffi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Packing Density ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Structure Degradation ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Cross Compliance

<p>Within the MO.NA.CO. Project<em> </em>the environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 3.1 ‘Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions’ was evaluated, as well as the economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers which conform or do not conform to cross-compliance. The monitoring has been carried out at nine experimental farms with different pedoclimatic characteristics, where some indicators of soil structure degradation have been evaluated, such as bulk density, packing density and surface roughness of the seedbed, and the crop productive and qualitative parameters. In each monitoring farm two experimental plots have been set up: factual with soil tillage at proper water content (tilth), counterfactual with soil tillage at inadequate water content (no tilth). The monitoring did not exhibit univocal results for the different parameters, thus the effectiveness of the Standard 3.1 is ‘contrasting’ (class of merit B), and there was an evident practical problem to till the soil at optimum water content, even in controlled experimental condition. Bulk density was significantly lower in the factual treatment although in soils with very different textures (sandy-loam and clayey). Packing density (PD) showed a high susceptibility to compaction in soils with low PD and medium texture. The tortuosity index, indicating the roughness of the seedbed, was lower and generally significantly different in the factual treatment. Results showed that the ploughing done in excessive soil moisture conditions is more expensive due to the increased force of traction of the tractor, which causes an increase in slip of the tractor wheels, with a speed reduction and increase in the working times and fuel consumption. Moreover, the crop yield is also reduced considerably according to the cultivated species.</p>

scholarly journals Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 4.1 (b, c) ‘Protection of permanent pasture land’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Salis ◽  
Lucia Sepe ◽  
Rosa Francaviglia ◽  
Marco Fedrizzi ◽  
Paolo Bazzoffi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Biomass Productivity ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Pasture Land ◽  
Permanent Pasture ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Productivity And Competitiveness ◽  
Cross Compliance

The paper presents the main results of the monitoring on the effectiveness of the cross-compliance Standard 4.1 ‘Permanent pasture protection: lett. b, c’ carried out in two case studies within the project MO.NA.CO. Soil, botanical, productive and economic (competitiveness gap) parameters have been monitored. In the short term, the Standard 4.1 showed its effectiveness on soil quality, biomass productivity and competitiveness gap in both case studies. Botanical parameters showed differing results, therefore their generalization is not applicable to the heterogeneity of the pasture land Italian system. Shallow soil tillage could be suggested, every 40-50 years, when an appropriate soil organic matter content and the absence of runoff phenomena occur.

scholarly journals Characterizing Soil Physical Properties for Soil Moisture Monitoring with the North Carolina Environment and Climate Observing Network

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 933-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weinan Pan ◽  
R. P. Boyles ◽  
J. G. White ◽  
J. L. Heitman
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Soil Physical Properties ◽  
The North ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Soil Moisture Monitoring

Abstract Soil moisture has important implications for meteorology, climatology, hydrology, and agriculture. This has led to growing interest in development of in situ soil moisture monitoring networks. Measurement interpretation is severely limited without soil property data. In North Carolina, soil moisture has been monitored since 1999 as a routine parameter in the statewide Environment and Climate Observing Network (ECONet), but with little soils information available for ECONet sites. The objective of this paper is to provide soils data for ECONet development. The authors studied soil physical properties at 27 ECONet sites and generated a database with 13 soil physical parameters, including sand, silt, and clay contents; bulk density; total porosity; saturated hydraulic conductivity; air-dried water content; and water retention at six pressures. Soil properties were highly variable among individual ECONet sites [coefficients of variation (CVs) ranging from 12% to 80%]. This wide range of properties suggests very different behavior among sites with respect to soil moisture. A principal component analysis indicated parameter groupings associated primarily with soil texture, bulk density, and air-dried water content accounted for 80% of the total variance in the dataset. These results suggested that a few specific soil properties could be measured to provide an understanding of differences in sites with respect to major soil properties. The authors also illustrate how the measured soil properties have been used to develop new soil moisture products and data screening for the North Carolina ECONet. The methods, analysis, and results presented here have applications to North Carolina and for other regions with heterogeneous soils where soil moisture monitoring is valuable.

Root effects on soil water and hydraulic properties

Biologia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Horst Gerke ◽  
Rolf Kuchenbuch
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Moisture Content ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Soil Water Content ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Soil Hydraulic ◽  
Root Effects

AbstractPlants can affect soil moisture and the soil hydraulic properties both directly by root water uptake and indirectly by modifying the soil structure. Furthermore, water in plant roots is mostly neglected when studying soil hydraulic properties. In this contribution, we analyze effects of the moisture content inside roots as compared to bulk soil moisture contents and speculate on implications of non-capillary-bound root water for determination of soil moisture and calibration of soil hydraulic properties.In a field crop of maize (Zea mays) of 75 cm row spacing, we sampled the total soil volumes of 0.7 m × 0.4 m and 0.3 m deep plots at the time of tasseling. For each of the 84 soil cubes of 10 cm edge length, root mass and length as well as moisture content and soil bulk density were determined. Roots were separated in 3 size classes for which a mean root porosity of 0.82 was obtained from the relation between root dry mass density and root bulk density using pycnometers. The spatially distributed fractions of root water contents were compared with those of the water in capillary pores of the soil matrix.Water inside roots was mostly below 2–5% of total soil water content; however, locally near the plant rows it was up to 20%. The results suggest that soil moisture in roots should be separately considered. Upon drying, the relation between the soil and root water may change towards water remaining in roots. Relations depend especially on soil water retention properties, growth stages, and root distributions. Gravimetric soil water content measurement could be misleading and TDR probes providing an integrated signal are difficult to interpret. Root effects should be more intensively studied for improved field soil water balance calculations.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of the GAEC cross-compliance standard Ploughing in good soil moisture conditions in soil structure protection

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1s) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Dell'Abate ◽  
Paolo Bazzoffi ◽  
Arianna Ciancaglini ◽  
Rosa Francaviglia ◽  
Carlo Galeffi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Structure ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Cross Compliance

scholarly journals Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance Standard 4.2 on biodiversity in set-aside management and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers, part I

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Mocali ◽  
Silvia Landi ◽  
Arturo Fabiani ◽  
Raimondo Piccolo ◽  
Alessandro Agnelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Soil Microorganisms ◽  
Biodiversity Monitoring ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Agronomic Practices ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Soil Arthropod ◽  
Arthropod Fauna ◽  
Cross Compliance ◽  
Monitoring Activity

In 2005, the CAP reform introduced the principle of conditionality that enables the access to single payments for farmers only ‘on condition’ that a series of commitments, such as the Statutory Management Requirements (SMR) and Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC), are respected. In particular, the GAEC Standard 4.2 aims to ensure the proper management of the set-aside fields through specific agronomic practices consisting in mowing or equivalent operations in order to conserve and protect biodiversity. This is considered one of the main environmental challenges of the new CAP. In the present work, we report the results of a monitoring activity aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the Standard 4.2 on soil biodiversity. Monitoring involved both, soil microorganisms and soil arthropod fauna, representing the so-called ‘invisible biodiversity’, a key element for soil fertility and sustainability, as well as the ground-dwelling arthropods. Two different managements of set-aside, with and without mowing, were compared in three different areas in Italy: Caorle (VE), Fagna (FI), and Metaponto (MT). The results showed a slight but significant increase in biodiversity in the plots where mowing was applied.

scholarly journals Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 2.2 "Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through crop rotation" and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamberto Borrelli ◽  
Roberta Farina ◽  
Paolo Bazzoffi ◽  
Antonio Melchiorre Carroni ◽  
Paola Ruda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Culture Technique ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Lag Times ◽  
Cross Compliance

Within the Project MO.NA.CO was evaluated the Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 2.2 “Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through crop rotation” and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers who support or not the cross-compliance regime. The monitoring was performed in nine experimental farms of the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) distributed throughout Italy and with different soil and climatic conditions. Were also evaluated the soil organic matter and some yield parameters, in a cereal monocropping (treatment counterfactual) and a two-year rotation cereal-legume or forage (treatment factual). The two-years application of the standard “crop rotations” has produced contrasting results with regards to the storage of soil organic matter through crop rotation and these were not sufficient to demonstrate a statistically significant effect of treatment in any of the farms considered in monitoring, only in those farms subjected to more years of monitoring was recorded only a slight effect of the standard as a trend. The variations of organic matter in soils in response to changes in the culture technique or in the management of the soil may have long lag times and two years of time are not sufficient to demonstrate the dynamics of SOM associated with the treatment, also in consideration of the large inter annual variability recorded in different monitored sites.

scholarly journals Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 2.1 ‘Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through management of stubble and crop residues’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Ventrella ◽  
Nino Virzì ◽  
Francesco Intrigliolo ◽  
Massimo Palumbo ◽  
Michele Cambrea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Good Agricultural Practice ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Cross Compliance

Within the Project MO.NA.CO. the Environmental effectiveness of GAEC cross-compliance standard 2.2 ‘Maintaining the level of soil organic matter through management of stubble and crop residues’ and economic evaluation of the competitiveness gap for farmers were evaluated. The monitoring was performed in eight experimental farms of the Council for agricultural research and economics (CREA), distributed throughout Italy and with different soil and climatic conditions. Yield parameters and several components of soil organic matter were evaluated in two contrasting treatments applied to one-year rotation of winter durum wheat and maize: i) incorporation into the soil of crop residues (Factual treatment) and ii) burning or removal of crop residues (Counterfactual treatment). The application of the standard ‘crop residue management’ has showed contrasting results with differences (for yield and soil) between the two treatments resulted almost always non significant. The analysis of economic competitiveness gap showed that the CR incorporation is more expensive than CR burning or removal, but the economic disadvantage can be considered rather small and thus easily compensated by Community aids. Therefore, the soil incorporation of crop residues can be considered a ‘good agricultural practice’ that does not penalize farmers in terms of production and cost and at the same time contributes to the maintenance of fertility and soil biodiversity. On the contrary, the removal and burning of residues result in a low or no-addition of organic matter into the soil. Moreover, burning can contribute to decrease the biodiversity and to increase the risk of air pollution, fires and road accidents.

Soil-specific calibration of capacitance sensors considering clay content and bulk density

Soil Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nargish Parvin ◽  
Aurore Degré
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Precise Measurement ◽  
Clay Content ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Soil Profiles ◽  
Soil Hydrology ◽  
Soil Columns ◽  
Different Depths

Soil hydrology research requires the accurate measurement of soil water content. Recently, less expensive capacitance sensors (CS) have become popular for the measurement of soil moisture across soil profiles, but these sensors need to be calibrated for precise results. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of clay content and bulk density (ρb) on the calibration of CS. Two different CS (10HS and 5TM) were considered for the study. Clay content and ρb of the soils were determined from two different sites and from three different depths (0–5, 25–30 and 50–60 cm) of an experimental field in Gembloux, Belgium. Custom calibration (CC) equations were developed using packed soil columns following the same ρb at sequential volumetric water content (θ) levels. The factory-supplied calibration (FSC) showed an overestimation of θ (0.04–0.07 m3 m–3) with the 10HS sensor, and an underestimation of θ (0.06–0.077 m3 m–3) with the 5TM sensor for the entire calibration range. The variance in raw sensor outputs for different ρb and clay content of soil depths was not highly significant because the soil had limited range of variability in ρb and clay content. However, the CC is recommended in parallel with FSC for the precise measurement of soil moisture with CS.

scholarly journals The hierarchy of controls on snowmelt-runoff generation over seasonally-frozen hillslopes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna E. Coles ◽  
Willemijn M. Appels ◽  
Brian G. McConkey ◽  
Jeffrey J. McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Snowmelt Runoff ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
Spring Runoff ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Seasonally Frozen Regions

Abstract. Understanding and modeling snowmelt-runoff generation in seasonally-frozen regions is a major challenge in hydrology. Partly, this is because the controls on hillslope-scale snowmelt-runoff generation are potentially extensive and their hierarchy is poorly understood. Understanding the relative importance of controls (e.g. topography, vegetation, land use, soil characteristics, and precipitation dynamics) on runoff response is necessary for model development, spatial extrapolation, and runoff classification schemes. Multiple interacting process controls, the nonlinearities between them, and the resultant threshold-like activation of runoff, typically are not observable in short-term experiments or single-season field studies. Therefore, long-term datasets and analyses are needed. Here, we use a 52-year dataset of runoff, precipitation, soil water content, snow cover, and meteorological data from three monitored c.5 ha hillslopes on the Canadian Prairies to determine the controls on snowmelt-runoff, their time-varying hierarchy, and the interactions between the controls. We use decision tree learning to extract information from the dataset on the controls on runoff ratio. Our analysis shows that there was a variable relationship between total spring runoff amount and either winter snowfall amount or snow cover water equivalent. Other factors came into play to control the fraction of precipitated water that infiltrated into the frozen ground. In descending order of importance, these were: total snowfall, snow cover, fall soil surface water content, melt rate, melt season length, and fall soil profile water content. While mid-winter warm periods in some years likely increased soil water content and/or led to development of impermeable ice lenses that affected the runoff response, hillslope memory of fall soil moisture conditions played a strong role in the spring runoff response. The hierarchy of these controls was condition-dependent, with the biggest differences between high and low snow cover seasons, and wet and dry fall soil moisture conditions. For example, when snow cover was high, the top three controls on runoff ratio matched the overall hierarchy of controls, with fall soil surface water content being the most important of these. By comparison, when snow cover was low, fall soil surface content was relatively unimportant and superseded by four other controls. Existing empirical methods for predicting infiltration into frozen ground failed to adequately predict runoff response at our site. Our analysis of the hierarchy of controls on meltwater runoff will aid in focusing new model approaches and understanding what to focus future measurement campaigns on in snowmelt-dominated, seasonally-frozen regions.

scholarly journals Transpiration and water use efficiency of maize in different soil moisture conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-109
Author(s):  
Jana Klimešová ◽  
Hana Středová ◽  
Agnieszka Klimek-Kopyra ◽  
Tomáš Středa
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Global Radiation ◽  
Corn Cobs ◽  
Horticultural Crops ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Globally, agriculture accounts for 80–90% of the fresh water used by humans, and in many crop production systems; this water use is unsustainable. Irrigation of large areas of field and horticultural crops is impossible. Studies of the impact of drought on important field and horticultural crops are necessary to estimate dimensions of adaptation and mitigation measures to climate change. For this purpose, maize was monitored as a model crop in this study. In a three-year experiment (i) using the sap flow measurement method, the transpiration of maize was evaluated during flowering and grain filling, (ii) water use efficiency (WUE) was evaluated in four soil moisture conditions. The intensity of transpiration was closely correlated with the values of global radiation and vapor pressure deficit. However, soil water content was a major factor influencing transpiration under drought stress. The transpiration decreased when water content in the soil reached 28% of available water holding capacity (AWHC), but the yield of corn cobs decreased only under stress of 25% AWHC. Thus, the yield reacted less sensitively to lower water availability than transpiration. WUE increased with decreasing transpiration. Statistically significantly higher WUE was already observed at a water content of 42% AWHC, however, a higher WUE did not lead to a higher yield of corn cobs.

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