Short and long-term benefits of white lupin as a cover crop on olive physiology

Abstract

Several positive effects of cover crops in orchards have been documented, including improvement on soil properties, which are reflected on tree physiological performance and yield. The use of legume species, such as white lupin, can provide other gains since they can fix atmospheric N2, reducing the cost with N fertilizers. However, this species need to be sown every year, which is costly and laborious. So, we aim to test if still remain in the year after it had been grown the benefits of cover crop on physiological performance of olive tree. Three different soil management systems were investigated on a 15-year-old olive orchard (Olea europaea L. , cv. Cobrançosa) grown in rainfed conditions: (1) conventional tillage, included as the control treatment (CT); (2) white lupin sowed in two consecutive years, 2009 and 2010 (LCY); (3) white lupin sowed in the first year, 2009 (LFY). The physiological parameters were determined in three periods of 2011: April, July and September.