Gambarani et al. (2026) Multi-Year Assessment of Soil Moisture Dynamics Under Nature-Based Vineyard Floor Management in the Oltrepò Pavese (Northern Italy)

Identification

• Journal: Agriculture
• Year: 2026
• Authors: Antonio Gambarani, Massimiliano Bordoni, Matteo Giganti, Valerio Vivaldi, Matteo Gatti, Stefano Poni, Alberto Vercesi, Claudia Meisina
• DOI: 10.3390/agriculture16030316

Research Groups

• Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy.
• Department of Sustainable Crop Production, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the effectiveness of cereal-based rolled cover crops versus mowed spontaneous vegetation in enhancing drought resilience in rainfed vineyards. The findings demonstrate that rolled cover crops improve soil moisture buffering and preserve hydraulic conductivity, though performance is heavily modulated by site-specific soil texture and structure.

Objective

• To quantify how different vineyard floor-management practices (rolled cover crops vs. spontaneous vegetation) influence soil moisture dynamics, hydraulic functioning, and drought resilience under varying climatic conditions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Two experimental vineyards in the Oltrepò Pavese wine district (Northern Italy): Santa Maria della Versa (SMV, fine-textured/61% clay) and Canevino (CNV, silty-clay/39% clay).
• Temporal Scale: Multi-year continuous monitoring from 2021 to 2025, encompassing contrasting wet and extreme dry agronomic years.

Methodology and Data

• Models and Indicators: Temporal stability analysis using Mean Relative Difference (MRD), Variance of Relative Difference (VRD), and Index of Temporal Stability (ITS); drought assessment via the Soil Water Deficit Index (SWDI) calibrated with field-derived thresholds.
• Data sources:
  • Continuous volumetric water content (VWC) and soil temperature from capacitance probes (Sentek Drill & Drop) at 10 cm intervals down to 90 cm.
  • Local meteorological data from automated weather stations (Netsens MeteoSense 4.0).
  • Field-based saturated hydraulic conductivity ($K_s$) measured via constant-head permeameter (Amoozemeter).
  • Soil bulk density and dry bulk density from undisturbed soil cores.

Main Results

• Hydrological Buffering: At the SMV site during post-termination dry phases, soil saturation at 50 cm depth remained significantly higher under rolled cover crops (C-R, ~70%) compared to the Control (~64%).
• Hydraulic Conductivity: Rolled cover crops preserved better infiltration pathways; at SMV, topsoil $K_s$ was $8.32 \times 10^{-6}$ m/s under C-R versus $7.39 \times 10^{-6}$ m/s in the Control.
• Drought Mitigation: At CNV, the SWDI at 50 cm showed a moderate improvement in the 2021–2022 drought year, with a median index of -1.2 under C-R compared to -5.3 under the Control.
• Site Dependency: Soil physical properties (texture and structure) set the primary hydrological envelope; clay-rich soils (SMV) showed higher average saturation (78–84%) than silty-clay soils (CNV, 68–75%) at 50 cm depth.
• Disturbance Impact: A tillage event at CNV in 2024 disrupted long-term hydrological trends, highlighting that mechanical intervention can override the benefits of Nature-based Solutions.

Contributions

• Provides a high-frequency, multi-year dataset on the hydrological performance of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Mediterranean-climate vineyards.
• Demonstrates that rolled cover crops function as an effective mulch that dampens soil moisture fluctuations and protects soil structure.
• Highlights the critical need for site-specific calibration of drought indices (like SWDI) in structured fine-textured soils to avoid overestimating drought severity.

Funding

• Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), NextGenerationEU (DM 117-118/2023).
• NODES project—Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile (Ecosystem for Innovation, M4C2, CUP: E13C22001860001).
• European Union LIFE Programme under the DRIVE LIFE project (grant agreement No. LIFE19 ENV/IT/000035).
• Support from seven municipalities of the Oltrepò Pavese and the University of Pavia.

Citation

@article{Gambarani2026MultiYear,
  author = {Gambarani, Antonio and Bordoni, Massimiliano and Giganti, Matteo and Vivaldi, Valerio and Gatti, Matteo and Poni, Stefano and Vercesi, Alberto and Meisina, Claudia},
  title = {Multi-Year Assessment of Soil Moisture Dynamics Under Nature-Based Vineyard Floor Management in the Oltrepò Pavese (Northern Italy)},
  journal = {Agriculture},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/agriculture16030316},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16030316}
}

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