SOIL USE EFFICIENCY AND ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF PEACH AND NECTARINE PRODUCTS

In recent years the attention to the soil as a limited resource that has to be preserved is increased. Therefore both a careful soil management and the adoption of practices that lead to a significant reduction of soil occupation are becoming ever more necessary. Considering orchard systems, it is important to increase the efficiency in the use of such resource; nevertheless the consumption of the soil has to be considered in a broader perspective. In this study, an assessment of the consumption of the three types of soil use (direct, indirect and virtual) was performed under different growing practices for peach and nectarine orchards. The considered orchard management protocols were: conventional, integrated and organic, in five commercial orchards for each protocol. Results clearly show that the higher yield of production in the conventional practice leads to a reduction of the direct soil use (therefore an apparent soil use efficiency), nevertheless it leads also to a significant increase of the indirect and virtual soil use.