Relating tree vigour to the soil and landscape characteristics of an olive orchard in a marly area of southern Spain

The relationships between tree vigour and soil and landscape properties of a rainfed olive orchard located on a marly slope of southern Spain were studied. The different properties and thickness of three soil layers (viz. the secondary carbonate-free layer, the solum, and the layer penetrated by roots), and the properties of the 0-30 cm layer, were used as soil variables. Olive tree vigour and soil properties were found to be strongly correlated. Much of the variability in tree vigour was related to soil morphology. The thickness of the root zone and the average CaCO3 content in the secondary carbonate-free layer and the upper 30 cm of soil accounted for similar to58 and similar to68%, respectively, of the variance in canopy volume. Tree vigour was related to some properties of the root zone, such as clay content and cation exchange capacity, expressed on a surface basis. Topographic properties such as distance to summit, slope gradient and profile curvature were also found to be significantly correlated with tree vigour, but had less influence than intrinsic soil properties. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.