Seasonal dynamics of microbial biomass and enzymatic activities in Mediterranean agricultural soils: conventional vs. ecological management

Abstract

To reduce the environmental impact caused by fertilizers of mineral origin, the wine sector is moving towards a sustainable model. The use of organic fertilizers is a common practice in the progress towards this management model, contributing to soil organic matter increase and impacting on the improvement of its physical-chemical and biological characteristics. Moreover, fertilizers must be capable of providing the necessary nitrogen for the correct crop growth. In order to compare the effect of a mineral fertilizer against an organic fertilizer in soil, a seasonal monitoring of the amount of nitrates and different biological parameters related to C and N (carbon and nitrogen of the soil microbial biomass, hydrolysis of diacetate of fluorescein and β-glucosidase and β-galactosidase activities) in a conventional plot and an organic plot in a commercial vineyard in Mallorca. The results after two years of application showed that the effect of the applications (mineral and organic) caused a tendency to increase the values of the biological variables thanks to the contribution of nutrients in soils, the effect of the mineral fertilizer on its control was greater.