engleski

Copper transport by surface runoff and subsurface lateral flow in vineyard hillslope soils

Copper (Cu) is found in many agrochemicals frequently used in vineyards and its concentration in topsoil may progressively increase. Cu forms rather stable complexes with soil organic matter (OM) thus binding of Cu on OM is an efficient mechanism for the retention of Cu in soil, minimizing its leaching. However, continental vineyards are mostly located at hillslope terrains, so other solute transport pathways could be important for Cu transport in sloped soil. Hypothesis was that because of Cu affinity for particulate organic compounds in soil, surface runoff will have a greater significance for total transported Cu if erosion processes occur and therefore transport of Cu-OM complexes along the hillslope. Another hypothesis was that subsurface Cu transport will be related to the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the soil solution, but it is not expected to be highly significant if there is sufficient amount of particulate OM in soil. This study is a part of the SUPREHILL research project with the ongoing experiment located at the Jazbina experimental station (University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Croatia). The experiment is conducted on a vineyard hill with a pronounced slope (upper hill ~10 % and lower hill ~20 %) and with inter- row grass mulching practice, and it is ongoing since December 2020 (i.e., beginning of measurements after the equipment installation). Three surface and subsurface water collection systems are installed at the bottom of the hill, with water collected and analyzed monthly for basic chemical parameters, including Cu concentration. First results suggest that soil chemical properties define the amount of Cu transported by surface runoff and soil subsurface lateral flow. Soil pH is a major factor affecting Cu transport by subsurface lateral flow, i.e. acidic pH promoted the proportion of Cu2+ in the soil solution, enabling its transport by preferential lateral flow.

Copper transport by surface runoff and subsurface lateral flow in vineyard hillslope soils

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