A study was carried out in nineteen vineyards of five countries, well representative
of major viticultural districts, which showed areas with fertility problems, consequence of strong soil erosion occurred during either pre-planting or ordinary cultivation. The comparison between degraded and non-degraded areas highlighted that
the soil features limiting water nutrition and enhancing potential water stress were
the most frequent discriminant soil conditions. Low nitrogen availability was the
second most important cause of soil malfunctioning, together with low organic
matter content. The degradation was also reflected in the very low values of the
C/N ratio, pointing to a difficulty of microbiota in synthetizing humus. Other limiting factor were excessive lime content and poor drainage. Also nutrient unbalance
or toxicity and low cation exchange capacity sporadically occurred. Since physical
and hydrological limitations are hardly modifiable, especially in depth, the study
underlines the difficulties to restore the fertility of degraded soils, and suggests
caution in planning new vineyards.The research work was carried out in the framework of the EU project RESOLVE
(Restoring optimal Soil functionality in degraded areas within organic vineyards),
supported by transnational funding bodies, being partners of the FP7 ERA-net project, CORE Organic Plus, and the cofound from the European CommissionPeer reviewe