Soil compaction under different management practices in a Croatian vineyard

The use of machinery in vineyards is increasing soil compaction and erosion. However, there is a lack of information about the impacts of different management practices on soil conditions of vineyards. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess soil compaction in Croatian vineyards under four different management systems: no-tillage (NT) system, conventional tillage (CT), yearly inversed grass covered (INV-GC) and tillage managed (INV-T) treatments. Four key top-soil (0–20 cm) parameters were assessed in the different land uses: bulk density (BD), penetration resistance (PR), soil water content (SWC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes. Tractor traffic increased the BD and PR in all treatments, with exception of CT treatment, as consequence of tillage. SWC showed higher values in INV-GC treatment during the dry period; meanwhile, it was similar during the wet season in every management type. Lower CO2 fluxes were found in INV-GC and NT than in the CT and INV-T treatments.