ChileanJAR

The effect of two systems of soil surface management (permanent plant coverage and different types of surface tillage) on soil erosión and grape production were studied for 5 years in a dryland vineyar d of the coastal range, on a soil with 20% slope, in the: Ñuble province of Chile.
Plots with permanent plantcoverage yielded 25%, 24% and 16% less grape, sugar and shoots, respectively, than plots with sorne type of tillage. At the fourth year soil losses in the treatments with plant coverage were 90% lower than those with tillage. This was due to an increase in the amount of plant residues left on the soil surface. The depressive effect of permanent plant coverage on plant yields was not related to changes on the chemical properties of the soil but probably to a depletion of the available water due to weed development.