Wood-based compost affects soil fertility and the content of available forms of nutrients in vineyard and field-scale agroecosystems

To counteract the loss of organic matter of agricultural soils, the use of compost from green and woody residues is a promising strategy. In this study, an organic farm (NE Italy) was investigated to determine the effect of management practices on physical and chemical soil properties. The organic system received three years ago a single high dose (60 t ha−1) of a wood-based compost (WBC), and it was compared with a conventional farm that annually managed mineral plus manure fertilization. In both systems, soil samples from a vineyard and field-scale rotation were collected, together with soil samples from an area not cultivated and not treated neither with compost nor with fertilizers or manure (untreated = control). Soil samples were characterized for soil fertility parameters, extractable fractions of macro- and micronutrients with DTPA and Mehlich3, and their total content. WBC was physically, chemically, and biologically characterized. The results showed that WBC fulfilled the requirements prescribed by Italian legislation, and the absence of phytotoxicity and conversely a stimulating activity towards root development was evidenced. From the DNA metabarcoding of the bacterial community, WBC revealed several peculiarities, including the dominance of taxa such as the order Acidimicrobiales, the families Anerolineaceae, Cytophagaceae, Caldimicrobiacese, Saprospiraceae and the archaeon Candidatus Nitrososphaera. Concerning the fertility of soils, the addition of WBC in both the vineyard and field-scale considerably affected some important soil parameters compared to those of conventional fertilization and untreated soil. Among these, WBC strongly increased the organic C content and the amount of the available P. In addition, the concentrations of macro- and micronutrients extractable by DTPA were generally higher with WBC than conventional fertilization. On the contrary, Mehlich3 extractable metals and total metals content were not affected by fertilization. The principal component analysis indicated that organic C, macronutrients (CaDTPA, KDTPA, and POlsen), as well as micronutrients (BDTPA, FeDTPA, and MoDTPA) are principal factors that properly separated conventional fertilization from organic fertilization. Beside this, within the same management, cases by agroecosystem were also well revealed by cluster analysis. In essence, in the short-term, the organic system led to a significant improvement in organic C and plant-available nutrients over the conventional system.