Soil and Plant Analyses to Diagnose Hop Fields Irregular Growth
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Soil and Plant Analyses to Diagnose Hop Fields Irregular Growth Sandra Afonso 1
&
Margarida Arrobas 1
&
M. Ângelo Rodrigues 1
Received: 28 February 2020 / Accepted: 21 May 2020 # Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo 2020
Abstract In cultivated fields, patches of poorly developed vegetation often appear without a clear indication of what is affecting the growth of the plants. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes behind these irregularities in the hop (Humulus lupulus L.) fields of NE Portugal which are greatly reducing crop yield and farmers’ profits and to provide guidance to farmers as to appropriate remedial action. Patches of different levels of plant development were selected within hop fields and categorized according to plant vigour (weak, fair and good). Several soil properties were determined and related to the plant nutritional status and dry matter yield of different parts of the plant (hops, leaves, stems). Data was subjected to analysis of variance and principal component analysis. The results suggest that crop yield is reduced mostly due to poor soil aeration and excessive soil and tissue Mn and Fe levels. The plants from the plots of weaker vigour seem to be particularly affected by toxic levels of Mn and the plants from the plots of fair vigour by Fe levels. pH, texture (clay content), cation exchange capacity and organic carbon seem to be other soil properties with some degree of influence on plant performance. From these results, farmers are advised to increase soil aeration by implementing a drainage system and converting to a drip irrigation system, in addition to increasing soil pH by liming to reduce Mn toxicity. Keywords Humulus lupulus . Soil properties . Nutritional disorders . Waterlogging . Plant growth and yield
1 Introduction Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) is a perennial species that has a productive life of more than 20 years. In the north-eastern of Portugal, cultivated hop fields sometimes display patches of heterogeneous plant vigour, even when managed by the same farmer and subjected to similar cropping techniques. This is an important issue since the loss of production is progressively reducing the farmers’ profit. The causes are often not easily identified, but they may be related to soil properties and plant nutritional disorders. Soil compaction and soil water content are spatially and temporarily variable factors which greatly influence soil
* M. Ângelo Rodrigues [email protected] Sandra Afonso [email protected] Margarida Arrobas [email protected] 1
Centro de Investigação de Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
available nutrients (Weil and Brady 2017). In Portugal, hop farmers usually irrigate the crop by flooding the space between rows (Rodrigues et al. 2016). This system negatively impacts the soils, causing the appearance of areas with excessive or insufficient water content and increasing soil compaction, which demands frequent tillage, with consequences for soil propertie
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