Soil moisture conservation in dryland viticulture as affected by conventional and minimum tillage practices
Date
1980
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
South African Society for Enology and Viticulture
Abstract
The effect of conventional clean cultivation, a straw mulch, chemical weed control and a grass sward on the soil moisture regime in a dryland vineyard was investigated. The results demonstrate that both a straw mulch and chemical weed control were very effective ju conserving winter-stored soil moisture until mid- or even late summer to support the vines during the almost rainless growing season. Further, it appeared that a mere loosening of the soil surface periodically by way of clean cultivation cannot conserve soil moisture effectively; it may, on the contrary, promote evaporation in the top-soil layers, especialzy when done after rain. On the other hand, an undisturbed soil surface, as in the case of chemical weed control, acts as a mulch in itself after the surface layer has dried out, thus reducing evaporation. Even under conditions of frequent rainfall, as during the first part of 1976/77 season, the straw mulch cover treatment was still superior to all other treatments in conserving soil moisture.
Description
CITATION: Van Huyssteen, L. & Weber, H. W. 1980. Soil moisture conservation in dryland viticulture as affected by conventional and minimum tillage practices. South African Journal of Enology & Viticulture, 1(2):67-75, doi:10.21548/1-2-2415.
The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajev
The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajev
Keywords
Soil moisture conservation, Dryland viticulture, Conventional tillage, Minimum tillage
Citation
Van Huyssteen, L. & Weber, H. W. 1980. Soil moisture conservation in dryland viticulture as affected by conventional and minimum tillage practices. South African Journal of Enology & Viticulture, 1(2):67-75, doi:10.21548/1-2-2415