Abstract Regenerative agriculture (RA) is gaining increasing recognition as a plausible solution to restore degraded agroecosystems. In Mediterranean drylands, RA is at incipient state of development and has been limitedly adopted by farmers, partly due to the lack of empirical evidence on its impacts. To support its large-scale adoption, we carried out a participatory monitoring project in southeast Spain, involving local farmers applying different RA practices in 9 almond farms. To assess the effect of RA, in each farm we selected one field with regenerative management and one nearby field with conventional management based on frequent tillage (CT). We clustered fields under regenerative management based on the RA practices applied by farmers and distinguished 4 types of RA treatments: 1) reduced tillage with green manure (GM), 2) reduced tillage with organic amendments (OA), 3) reduced tillage with green manure and organic amendments (GM&OA), and 4) no tillage with permanent natural covers and organic amendments (NT&OA). We evaluated the impacts of RA compared to CT by comparing physical (bulk density and aggregate stability), chemical (pH, salinity, total N, P, K, available P, and exchangeable cations) and biological (SOC, POC, PON, microbial activity) properties of soil quality and the nutritional status of almond trees (leaf N, P and K). Our results show that GM improved soil physical properties, presenting higher soil aggregate stability. We found that OA improved most soil chemical and biological properties, showing higher contents of SOC, POC, PON, total N, K, P, available P, exchangeable cations and microbial respiration. RA treatments combining ground covers and organic amendments (GM&OA and NT&OA) exhibited greater overall soil quality restoration than individual practices. NT&OA stood out for presenting the highest soil quality improvements. All RA treatments maintained similar crop nutritional status compared to CT. We conclude that RA has strong potential to restore the physical, chemical and biological quality of soils of woody agroecosystems in Mediterranean drylands without compromising their nutritional status, thereby enhancing their resilience to climate change and long term sustainability.

中文翻译：

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通过再生农业恢复地中海旱地木本农业生态系统的土壤质量

摘要 再生农业 (RA) 作为恢复退化的农业生态系统的可行解决方案正越来越受到认可。在地中海旱地，RA 处于发展初期，农民采用的有限，部分原因是缺乏关于其影响的经验证据。为了支持其大规模采用，我们在西班牙东南部开展了一个参与式监测项目，让当地农民在 9 个杏仁农场应用不同的 RA 实践。为了评估 RA 的效果，在每个农场中，我们选择了一个进行再生管理的田地和附近的一个基于频繁耕作 (CT) 进行常规管理的田地。我们根据农民应用的 RA 实践对再生管理下的田地进行了聚类，并区分了 4 种类型的 RA 处理：1）使用绿肥（GM）减少耕作，2) 使用有机改良剂 (OA) 减少耕作，3) 使用绿肥和有机改良剂 (GM&OA) 减少耕作，以及 4) 使用永久自然覆盖物和有机改良剂 (NT&OA) 免耕。我们通过比较物理（体积密度和聚集体稳定性）、化学（pH、盐度、总氮、磷、钾、可用磷和可交换阳离子）和生物（SOC、POC、PON、微生物活性）土壤质量特性和杏仁树的营养状况（叶 N、P 和 K）。我们的结果表明，转基因改善了土壤物理性质，表现出更高的土壤团聚体稳定性。我们发现 OA 改善了大部分土壤化学和生物学特性，显示出更高的 SOC、POC、PON、总 N、K、P、有效磷、可交换阳离子和微生物呼吸的含量。结合地被植物和有机改良剂（GM&OA 和 NT&OA）的 RA 处理表现出比个别做法更好的整体土壤质量恢复。NT&OA 因提供最高的土壤质量改进而脱颖而出。与 CT 相比，所有 RA 处理都保持了相似的作物营养状态。我们得出的结论是，RA 在恢复地中海旱地木本农业生态系统土壤的物理、化学和生物质量方面具有强大的潜力，而不会影响其营养状况，从而增强它们对气候变化的适应能力和长期可持续性。与 CT 相比，所有 RA 处理都保持了相似的作物营养状态。我们得出的结论是，RA 在恢复地中海旱地木本农业生态系统土壤的物理、化学和生物质量方面具有强大的潜力，而不会影响其营养状况，从而增强它们对气候变化的适应能力和长期可持续性。与 CT 相比，所有 RA 处理都保持了相似的作物营养状态。我们得出的结论是，RA 在恢复地中海旱地木本农业生态系统土壤的物理、化学和生物质量方面具有强大的潜力，而不会影响其营养状况，从而增强它们对气候变化的适应能力和长期可持续性。