Canadian researchers find vineyards adversely affect soil quality

Published: 18 July, 2016

Biologists from the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Okanagan campus have said that wine growers need to be more aware of how viticulture practices affect the soil, after research showed that wine growing had a negative impacted on soil biodiversity.

The team of researchers spent the better part of three years studying soil samples from more than 15 vineyards to see if Okanagan's grape industry has affected soil quality.

Associate professor Miranda Hart, PhD candidate Taylor Holland and Agriculture Canada research scientist Pat Bowen looked at soils in vineyards and neighbouring natural?or uncultivated?habitats.

With samples from both areas, researchers compared the bacterial and fungal communities between habitats, trying to determine what's happening to the soil under the wine-producing grapes.

They determined there was a definite difference in soil communities between the natural valley soil and the vineyard soil.

"Soil biodiversity may be an important part of terroir, which is everything to a grape grower, so they have a vested interest in ensuring we preserve soil biodiversity," Hart explained.

"This baseline study shows us that British Columbia's wine growing regions are different in terms of the organisms that live in the soil."

She added: "We have to take care of the microbes in the soil. The biodiversity of soil microbes is essential if we are to feed our growing population."

Hart says there is currently a limited understanding of how agriculture practices change soil biodiversity, and she believes it is important to understand what soil would be like if left in its natural state, so that growers are aware of how they may be changing it.

The samples researchers tested showed that bacterial and fungal communities responded differently to viticulture: bacteria had a higher biodiversity in vineyards, compared to fungi which had higher biodiversity in unmanaged areas.

These results indicate that viticulture practices influence key environmental factors that control soil microbial communities and possibly affect nutrient availability and other services provided by natural soil communities.

Taylor Holland explained that microbes are big part of the soil for grape growers and that what happens underground can influence the vine growth and fruit development and downstream wine assets.

He said: "Improved knowledge of how management choices affect microbial communities and their influences on crop performance would benefit the design of efficient and sustainable production systems.

"As we move towards more natural practices, hopefully we can reduce these differences."

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