Cover crop with Teramnus labialis in a citrus orchard: effects on some physical properties of the soil

Abstract

The use of leguminous cover crops in citrus orchards constitutes a viable alternative for the improvement of soil properties, whenever they are appropriately managed. In Ciego de Avila University, Cuba, it was evaluated the effect of a leguminous cover crop on some properties of an orchard soil. The work was carried out during four years in an orange plantation of Valencia late (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) in a 22 years-old orchard, with a plantation frame of 8 X 4 m, planted on a typical red Ferralitic soil, belonging to the CPA ¨José Martí¨, in Ciego de Avila. It was used a random block design with three treatments: one with covering of Teramnus labialis (T1), one with expontaneous vegetation (T2) and the third with no vegetation (T3). The functional structure properties of the soil were determined, and also the composition of macroaggregates expressed in the structure coefficient and the percentage of stable added in water, soil density, humidity and porosity. The increments in the humidity of the soil, the specific volume of pores and air, the structure coefficient, as well as the percentage of stable added in water, in the soil where the covering of Teramnus labialis was stablished, show the efficiency of cover crops in these citrus orchards.