S20 - Session O1 - Sustainable management of vineyard soils: an experimental approach to investigate responses of the edaphic arthropods community

Authors: Isabella Ghiglieno *, Anna Simonetto, Giorgio Sperandio, Elia Lipreri , Fabio Gatti , Pierluigi Donna, Marco Tonni , Leonardo Valenti, Gianni Gilioli

The need of identifying sustainable practices for vineyard agro-ecosystems management requires to better explore the interactions between soil management, soil abiotic and biotic components. The community of edaphic arthropods represents a key element for the origin and the regulation of important ecosystem services in vineyards. This research aims to investigate the response of soil arthropods in vineyard to soil management through a field experiment conducted in the context of the Project F.A.Re.Su.Bio (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development - Lombardy Region). Nineteen vineyards located in two Italian wine-growing regions, Franciacorta DOCG and Oltrepo Pavese DOC/DOCG, were monitored during a period of 3-years (2019-2021), in order to investigate the integrated effects of the primary abiotic variables characterising soil environment, such as chemical and physical composition of the soil, and soil management practices, such as tillage, fertilization and different cover crop management, on soil biological quality (assessed by the QBS-ar index). Two experimental protocols were defined: in 10 vineyards the effect of spontaneous cover crop was compared to the effect of sown cover crop or to organic fertilisation; in the remaining 9 vineyards the effect of surface distribution of organic fertiliser was compared to organic fertiliser distribution followed by different frequency of tillage. Data obtained from the project provided indication on how the combined effects of environmental conditions and soil management influence the biodiversity of the main soil taxa and how to improve soil biological quality and functional biodiversity.