Effect of mulching on soil moisture content during periods of draught in the environments of Gyöngyös city

Varga, István – Nagy-Kovács, Erika – Lefler, Péter

The unfavourable impact of global warming can be observed also in vineyards of the wine region at the feet of Mátra mountains near Gyöngyös city, Northern Hungary. Periods of draught frequently occur in summer. Sudden heavy rainfalls cause soil erosion, on the one hand, and such precipitation gets lost for the vines due to flow-off, on the other. The negative effects of draught can be successfully decreased using wheat straw, maize stalk or other kinds of waste matter arising in agriculture in big quantities (e. g. reed) for mulching. These natural substances promote the infiltration of spring and summer precipitation into the soil, and reduce soil erosion, water flow-off and evaporation, which was proven also in experiments carried out by the authors. In addition, they constitute also some kind of organic matter replacement on soils poor in such matter. It is true that straw mulch is more expensive than conventional tillage but still may be promising due to yield safety and quality improvement it causes by conserving rainwater in the soil. Mulching with organic waste matter of agricultural origin may be well fitted in the integrated system of farming technologies in hillside vineyards.

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