Assessment of plant covers with native legumes un Mediterranean semi-arid wood crops

Abstract

The aim of this work is to present the design of handling methods carried out with plant covers over a period of 12 consecutive years in an olive and vineyard grove on the experimental plantation La Higueruela (Toledo, Spain). Starting from the initial working hypotheses, connected with minimising the soil erosion which had been produced by the conventional management of these woody crops for more than 50 years, the benefits of plant biodiversity (weed vegetation) and covers with subterranean clover, have been considered and the question of how to manage permanent covers. Ecological cover use may be systematised under the headings which encompass the main results obtained: (i) environmental services of permanent plant covers; (ii) use of main functional groups of the communities proceeding from the soil seed bank; (iii) sustainable management of N and C in the very olive grove system; and (iv) minimisation of competition for water by paying attention to the evaluation of autochthonous leguminous crops adapted to the constant fluctuations of a Mediterranean climate. Although previous works have set out results from this research, we now offer an evaluation from what might be regarded as the perspective of ecological engineering.