Soil carbon may be enhanced in agroecosystems by increasing root density throughout the soil profile. In vineyards and orchards, groundcovers that grow concurrently with the grapevines directly increase shallow root biomass and may induce deeper rooting of the fruit crop. We examined root distributions and soil properties associated with soil carbon in a vineyard that varies in groundcover and rootstock management practices. In comparison to an herbicide control, the grass groundcover substantially increased root biomass inputs in shallow soil zones (<40 cm) and appreciably influenced grapevine root mass distribution throughout the soil profile. Groundcover root growth enhanced soil carbon and nitrogen by nearly 50 % between 0−40 cm depths, but there was no significant influence of groundcover or rootstock on soil parameters at deeper depths (> 40 cm). Collectively, our results suggest that undervine groundcovers can substantially increase shallow soil carbon, but the potential for increases beyond the groundcover root zone remains unclear.

通过增加整个土壤剖面的根系密度，可以提高农业生态系统中的土壤碳含量。在葡萄园和果园中，与葡萄藤同时生长的地被植物会直接增加浅根生物量，并可能导致果树更深的生根。我们研究了葡萄园中与土壤碳相关的根系分布和土壤特性，这些特性因地被植物和砧木管理实践而异。与除草剂对照相比，草皮覆盖物显着增加了浅层土壤区域（<40 cm）中根系生物量的输入，并显着影响了整个土壤剖面中葡萄根系的质量分布。在0-40厘米深度之间，地被植物根系的生长使土壤碳和氮增加了近50％，但在更深的深度（> 40 cm）下，地被植物或砧木对土壤参数没有显着影响。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，葡萄藤的地下覆盖物可以显着增加浅层土壤的碳含量，但尚不清楚地下覆盖物根部区域以外的增加潜力。