The effect of rainfall intensity and floor management practices on changes in soil water status in an apple orchard.

摘要

During three years of experiment (2009-2011) the analysis of temporal distribution and intensity of rainfall along with measurements of soil water content were done to assess the impact of precipitation on moisture changes of soil covered with mulch (wood chips or black polypropylene agrotextile) or maintained bare by chemicals. Efficiency of rainfall of different intensity was estimated by recording changes in soil water content within 24 h after the rainfall onset. The study confirmed a high variation in the amount and distribution of precipitation during vegetative season. Total rainfalls in 2009, 2010 and 2011 were higher than the multi-year average. The amount of rainfall collected during the vegetative period (May-September) constituted more than 50% of the total yearly precipitation. The efficiency of precipitation depended on the orchard floor management system. In case of bare (non-mulched) soil the highest efficiency of precipitation was showed for heavy rains (5-10 mm h -1). Low and medium intensity rains (below 5 mm h -1) were less efficient for soil covered with mulch. In case of stormy rains (>10 mm h -1), a higher increase in moisture was recorded in plots with soil surface covered with organic mulch compared to the control ones (without mulching). Low values of precipitation efficiency were observed in the soil covered with polypropylene textile indicating that this type of mulch could decrease the level of water penetration to the soil during the rainfall event. CT VII International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops, Geisenheim, Germany.