Soil Metagenome

In viticulture, cover crops are commonly planted between vine rows to mitigate soil erosion, nutrient loss, and weed establishment. Monocultures and mixed cultures of grains, legumes, and mustards are purposefully sown and can be established successfully in a variety of soil types. However, their impact on the soil microbial communities and the interplay between cover crops and soil type remains largely unexplored. In our study, we investigated the impact of Vicia faba (faba bean, legume) and x Triticosecale (triticale, grain) versus natural vegetation on soil microbial communities and physicochemical properties over two consecutive seasons of cover crop application (2018/2019 and 2019/2020) in three commercial Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards characterized by Duplex, Oakleaf, and Tukulu soil types. The rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to identify the microbial taxa.