IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i12p1201-d690936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Cover Crops Affecting the Quality and Sustainability of Fruit Production?

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanna Giacalone

    (Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini, 3, 10195 Grugliasco, Italy)

  • Cristiana Peano

    (Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini, 3, 10195 Grugliasco, Italy)

  • Deborah Isocrono

    (Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini, 3, 10195 Grugliasco, Italy)

  • Francesco Sottile

    (Department of Architecture (DARCH), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 11, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

Abstract

The study of the interaction between fruit trees and cover crops has been addressed in numerous works over the last 50 years or more, evidencing the need to evolve from a productive orchard to an orchard that plays different ecosystem roles in terms of environmental sustainability rather than just productivity. This review, through an analysis of the scientific literature since the 1950s, highlights the development of sustainable soil management models in fruit tree orchards, mostly considering the relationship with fruit quality traits and with the ecosystem services that result from the adoption of cover crops, aiming at identifying and formulating technical recommendations in perennial orchards. Cover crop management surely improves soil features and positively influences fruit quality in perennial woody species, but also helps to develop a better habitat for beneficial insects, thus influencing pollination. A large number of scientific approaches highlight the beneficial use of a mixture of seeds in order to enhance biodiversity, aiming at improving ecosystem services for a transition towards more sustainable systems based on agroecological management.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanna Giacalone & Cristiana Peano & Deborah Isocrono & Francesco Sottile, 2021. "Are Cover Crops Affecting the Quality and Sustainability of Fruit Production?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-10, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:12:p:1201-:d:690936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/12/1201/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/12/1201/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicola Sasanelli & Alena Konrat & Varvara Migunova & Ion Toderas & Elena Iurcu-Straistaru & Stefan Rusu & Alexei Bivol & Cristina Andoni & Pasqua Veronico, 2021. "Review on Control Methods against Plant Parasitic Nematodes Applied in Southern Member States (C Zone) of the European Union," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Johnston, Warren, 2003. "California Agriculture Dimensions and Issues: Cross Sections of a Diverse Agriculture: Profiles of California’s Agricultural Production Regions and Principal Commodities," Information Series 296898, University of California, Davis, Giannini Foundation.
    3. David Zilberman & Leslie Lipper & Nancy McCarthy & Ben Gordon, 2018. "Innovation in Response to Climate Change," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Leslie Lipper & Nancy McCarthy & David Zilberman & Solomon Asfaw & Giacomo Branca (ed.), Climate Smart Agriculture, pages 49-74, Springer.
    4. Ali Sarıdaş, Mehmet & Kapur, Burçak & Çeliktopuz, Eser & Şahiner, Yeşim & Kargı, Sevgi Paydaş, 2021. "Land productivity, irrigation water use efficiency and fruit quality under various plastic mulch colors and irrigation regimes of strawberry in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang Yang & Jinfei Zhao & Xinying Liu & Linqiao Xi & Jiean Liao, 2022. "Simulation and Test of “Separated Burying Device” of Green Manure Returning Machine Based on the EDEM Software," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quevedo Cascante, Mónica & Acosta García, Nicolás & Fold, Niels, 2022. "The role of external forces in the adoption of aquaculture innovations: An ex-ante case study of fish farming in Colombia's southern Amazonian region," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Collins-Sowah, Peron A., 2018. "Theoretical conception of climate-smart agriculture," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2018-02, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    3. Seungki Lee & Yongjie Ji & GianCarlo Moschini, 2021. "Agricultural Innovation and Adaptation to Climate Change: Insights from Genetically Engineered Maize," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 21-wp616, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    4. Graskemper, Viktoria & Yu, Xiaohua & Feil, Jan-Henning, 2021. "Farmer typology and implications for policy design – An unsupervised machine learning approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Li, Cheng & Luo, Xiaoqi & Wang, Naijiang & Wu, Wenjie & Li, Yue & Quan, Hao & Zhang, Tibin & Ding, Dianyuan & Dong, Qin’ge & Feng, Hao, 2022. "Transparent plastic film combined with deficit irrigation improves hydrothermal status of the soil-crop system and spring maize growth in arid areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    6. Birthal, Pratap S. & Hazrana, Jaweriah & Negi, Digvijay S. & Bhan, Subhash C., 2021. "Climate change and land-use in Indian agriculture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    7. Calvin Atewamba & Edward R Rhodes, 2020. "Biophysical and Economic Factors of Climate Change Impact Chain in the Agriculture Sector of ECOWAS," Chapters, in: Abdelhadi Makan (ed.), Environmental Health - Management and Prevention Practices, IntechOpen.
    8. Alam, Ashraful & Du, Anna Min & Rahman, Mahfuzur & Yazdifar, Hassan & Abbasi, Kaleemullah, 2022. "SMEs respond to climate change: Evidence from developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Wen, Shenglin & Cui, Ningbo & Gong, Daozhi & Liu, Chunwei & Xing, Liwen & Wu, Zongjun & Wang, Zhihui & Wang, Jiaxin, 2023. "A global meta-analysis of yield and water productivity of woody, herbaceous and vine fruits under deficit irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:12:p:1201-:d:690936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.