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Soil management principles in climate-smart conservation <BR>agriculture to halt and reverse land degradation (Communication session)
EUROSOIL2020CONT-2738
ECOLOGICAL POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES OF ELECTRICAL WEED CONTROL AND LAND CONVERSION - IMPACT ON SOIL ORGANISMS
Laura Leimbrock-Rosch1, Gilles Altmann1, Thorsten Ruf* 2, Mary Oluwaroye2, Christoph Emmerling2
1Research and Development, Institute for organic agriculture Luxembourg (IBLA) a.s.b.l., Altrier, Luxembourg, 2Soil Science departement, Trier University, Trier, Germany
Content: As part of the European INTERREG project FABulous Farmers, to support farmers in the practical implementation of agro-ecological farming methods, a trial on converting permanent grassland using different methods was carried out in the pilot region in Luxembourg at the end of October 2019. The aim was to assess the effects of electrical tillage on soil organisms with a specific focus on earthworms, relative to mechanical and chemical measures. In addition, the efficiency of the different treatments was investigated.
The experimental site was located on the permanent grassland trial plot of the Lycée Technique Agricole in Erpeldange-sur-Sûre (200 m ASL., P: 831 mm, T: 9.8 °C, average yield in 2006-2014: approx. 11 t DM/ha) and is characterised by a fertile, alluvial, sandy-loamy soil. The trial was set up as a randomised complete block. The following three treatments were tested in four replicates: a) cultivator, b) electroherb weed control "Zasso Xpower" from Zasso GmbH and c) herbicide (glyphosate). In addition, d) a treatment without tillage was used as a control. At three points in time, one day after the grassland was turned over, 14 days later and after 6 months in March 2020, earthworms were recorded as a combined hand sorting and AITC extraction acc. to DIN ISO EN 23611:2018. Soil samples were taken to determine hot/cold water extractable carbon, soil microbial biomass, microbial activity, and enzyme activity. In addition to the soil characterisation, an image analysis was carried out to compare the efficiency of the treatments.
There were clear differences in the efficiency of grassland conversion. The proportion of non-killed grass cover was lower in the electric herb weed control treatment than in the mechanical and chemical treatments. Earthworm abundance and biomass were negatively affected in the long term in both, the mechanical (cultivator) and electroherb plots. Despite a reduction in earthworm biomass in these two treatments of over 40 % compared to the control and the glyphosate treatment, the differences could not be statistically confirmed. Amounts of microbial biomass and activity were decreased in the cultivator and glyphosate treatment at all three sampling times, whereas in the electrical treatment microbial properties were comparable to the control. Microbial biomass and activity were positively correlated with the hot/cold extractable carbon pool in soil, which was as well impacted by the various tillage treatments. In sum, our results revealed the potential of electrical power to replace ploughing and glyphosate in weed control or land conversion. However, further investigations on different soils are highly recommended.
Disclosure of Interest: None Declared
Keywords: earthworm abundance, electroherb, microbial biomass , soil management