Vineyard soils and Kyoto Protocol:the case study of DOC Piave (Veneto Region, Italy)

To increase carbon sequestration on soils it’s necessary to collect local information about soil carbon stock in order to respect Kyoto Protocol objectives. By comparing the main land uses of Veneto plain, it results that vineyard soil has an organic carbon (OC) content significantly higher than the others. To study vineyards’ capacity to sequestrate OC, the DOC Piave area (Veneto Region, Italy) has been investigated. OC trend has been analyzed, on topsoil (0-30 cm) of about 60 wineries, according to the Soil Systems described in Treviso Soil Map at 1:50,000 scale. The higher contents have been found in the high plain soils, rich in coarse fragments content, because OC, expressed as a percentage value, is referred only to the fine earth. The lower values have been identified in levee soils and coastal plain soils, with coarse texture and well drained, where the organic matter’s mineralization process is faster.