Devin Rippner,* Elizabeth Gillispie, Michelle Moyer, Markus Keller, Troy Peters, Collins Wakholi, Brandon Peterson, Amisha Poret-Peterson, Andrew McElrone, Gustavo Mendez-Soto, Anil Battu, and Tamas Varga
*USDA-ARS, 24106 N. Bunn Rd, Prosser, WA, 99350 (devin.rippner@usda.gov)

Vineyard soils are most disturbed during vineyard establishment, including pre-plant soil preparation, planting, and trellis installation. This process grossly alters soil physical and hydraulic properties in a repeating pattern across newly planted vineyard blocks. To study the influence of mechanical vineyard planting on soil hydraulic and physical properties, a suite of analyses was conducted on soils and soil cores taken from the vine (3) and tractor (3) rows of a newly mechanically-planted vineyard and an adjacent property of mixed uses, including as a vineyard, that has not been disturbed in at least five years. Soil bulk density was 30% greater in the tractor row and 20% greater in the no-till field compared to the vine row of the recently planted vineyard. Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) was significantly increased (100×) in the vine row compared to the tractor row. No-till soils had a Ksat ~10× greater than the tractor row and 10× less than the vine row, representing an almost optimal infiltration rate of ~20 cm/hr. Mean porosity measured by x-ray computed tomography was greatest in vine rows and least in the tractor rows. No-till soil showed not just extensive root colonization, but also extensive exploration by earthworms, contributing to the macroporosity and thus contributing significantly to the observed Ksat in the no-till soil. These results could guide vineyard planting practices to minimize soil disturbance and highlight the synergy between cover crops and soil fauna in improving important soil health properties like capturing water.

Funding Support: USDA Project # 2072-21000-057-000-D (A portion of) This research was performed on a project award (https://doi.org/10.46936/lser.proj.2021.51847/60000344) from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science User Facility sponsored by the Biological and Environmental Research program under Contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830.