A significant part of the world’s fruticulture is rainfed managed.
Olive, almond and vine are some of the perennial crops whose social
and economic importance is huge throughout the Mediterranean
basin and which mostly continue to be grown in rainfed conditions.
Cover cropping is the most recommended soil management system
in fruit growing. However, in rainfed managed orchards, soil tillage
continues to dominate, and the use of herbicides is also widely used.
In rainfed conditions there is a high risk of competition for water
between herbaceous vegetation and trees, which makes difficult
the widespread use of cover crops. However, there seem to be
new clues to overcoming the problem, consisting of the use of less
competitive plants, such as early-maturing self-reseeding annual
legumes. These plants are able to protect the soil from erosion,
sequester carbon and increase soil organic matter, fix nitrogen and
promote the nutritional status of the trees and fruit yield. Their
growing cycles finish early in spring which greatly reduces the
competition for water.
