Characterization of agrobiodiversity in viticultural agroecosystems of the Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina

TONOLLI, ALEJANDRO; GRECO, SILVINA; FRUITOS, ANDREA; BARZOLA, PEHUEN; LAPARRA, CAROLINA

Ciencias agronómicas. Revista de investigaciones de la Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias - UNR

Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias - Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Lugar: Rosario; Año: 2022 vol. 22 p. 28 - 30

The sustainability of viticultural agroecosystems has been a matter of concern since the last decades for science and for decision makers and for producers themselves as well (BA, 2013). As a result, different forms of technological management (precision agriculture, good agricultural practices, biodynamic agriculture and organic production, among others) have been applied to address this concern. The expected responses for each of these properties in have been described for conventional management (Garibaldi et al., 2017) but they have not been described for organic viticulture so far.On the other hand, some winegrowing entrepreneurship have turned to implement sustainability, diversity and, in general terms, nature conservation protocols in productive ecosystems built by humans (Van den Bosh, et al., 2015). These protocols require, among other aspects, the determination of biodiversity as an element of analysis and as a tool for their management, but it is not specified which elements of diversity are of importance for the agroecosystem, nor how to implement it in their management.Considering this background, the present work contributes to understand the characteristics of biodiversity in viticultural agroecosystems according to different technological/agronomic management (conventional vs. organic) and provides methodological and analytical elements for plant diversity studies.Methodologically, we worked with five agroecosystems (three conventional and two organic) located in the same region and close to each other. The agroecosystems chosen for each management have consolidated agronomic practices (more than 5 years of continuous implementation) and with cultivar Malbec grapevinesThe data were collected during two productive cycles (2020 and 2021) during winter, spring and summer seasons using the phytosociological method in three plots of 10 m² per agroecosystem. The plots were located in the same barracks at points away from alleys, perimeters and other management, in order to avoid the edge effect.Results for all the variables are similar for both management systems, with a slight superiority for conventional management in all parameters.In conclusion, it can be said that the parameters observed to characterize conventional and organic vineyard management at the agroecosystem level do not show significant differences. It is understood that mechanical (organic) and chemical (conventional) vegetation management responded in a similar way at the agroecosystem level for the parameters studied. It should be investigated the vegetation respons s to the frequency of these disturbances and the vegetation at the inter-row and row levels.