Mediterranean Arable Systems COmparison Trial (MASCOT)
This experiment has been added by the GLTEN Curators using existing published sources.
- Objective
- Comparison of organic and conventional stockless farming systems
- Description
- The MASCOT long-term experiment started in Autumn 2001 and is located in the coastal plain of Tuscany, central Italy. At the end of the conversion period (October 2001), a 5-year stockless arable crop rotation was established in conventional and organic systems. The MASCOT (Mediterranean Arable Systems COmparison Trial) long-term experiment was planned in the late 1990s with the aim to establish the first exhaustive and scientifically rigorous Mediterranean long-term experiment comparing organic and conventional management systems for a typical arable crop rotation of Tuscany coastal plain. The establishment of MASCOT, represented the natural evolution of Pisa system-based research approach to alternative agriculture. The aim of MASCOT is to evaluate the long-term dynamics of soil physical, chemical and biological parameters, of macronutrients (NPK), of weed and pest populations and communities, of system biodiversity as well as economic and energetic aspects of systems management and effects on produce quality (also assessed with innovative methods, e.g. biocrystallization). A further objective is to provide, in the short-medium term, indications on the best cultural practices for the five crops included in the rotation.
- Data Access Statement
- Don't know
- Data license
- Don't know
- Data policy
- Don't know
- Organization
- Centre for Agro-environmental Research “Enrico Avanzi”, University of Pisa
- People
Site: Mascot
- Location
- PisaTuscanyItaly
- Geographic location
- 43.651055, 10.338048
- Visits permitted?
- No
- Soil type
- Tipic Xeropsamment
- Soil description
- loamy soil
- Soil properties
Variable Depth Value (range) Units Ref year Estimated? Baseline? soil organic carbon 9.3 g kg-1 total soil nitrogen 1.1 g kg-1 soil pH (8.47 – 8.7) 2001 sand content 0 – 30 Centimetres 43.7 (43.5 – ) Percent 2001 silt content 0 – 30 Centimetres (33.3 – 33.8) Percent 2001 clay content 0 – 30 Centimetres (23 – 22.7) percent 2001 soil organic matter 0 – 30 Centimetres (1.62 – 1.6) percent 2001 total soil nitrogen 0 – 30 Centimetres 0.11 percent 2001 field capacity 26.5 Percent dry weight 2001 wilting point 11.5 percent dry weight 2001 - Climate description
- Mediterranean, with rainfall mostly concentrated in autumn (October to December) and spring (March to April). Due to elevated air temperatures, potential evapotranspiration is generally high in late spring and summer (up to 6–7 mm day−1).
- Climate properties
Variable Time period Value (range) Units mean monthly air temperature February 11 degree Celsius mean monthly air temperature August 30 degree Celsius rainfall (550 – 1180) millimeter evapotranspiration late spring summer (6 – 7) mm per day soil water deficit (120 – 150) mm per month
Design period: (2001—)
- Design Type
- Randomized complete block design
- Design description
- The total experimental area (ca. 24 ha) is divided into fields of ca. 0.35-1 ha each, where the five crops are allocated and managed organically or conventionally (each group of five fields represents a system within a block; each crop is present every year). Systems are replicated three times according to a RCB design. Both natural and planted vegetation (lucerne strips and a mixed hedgerow composed by local species: Crataegus monogyna, Cornus sanguinea, Ligustrum vulgare, Lonicera xylosteum, Prunus spinosa and Rhamnus cathartica) was established in the winter 2001-02 to build up an ecological infrastructure and to physically separate conventionally- and organically-managed fields.
- Number of plots
- 30
- Number of replicates
- 3
- Number of harvests per year
- 1
- Crops
Crop Years grown maize wheat sunflower faba beans durum wheat red clover - Crop Rotations
- Organic
- 1maizesugar beet until 2006
- 2wheatred cloverUndersown in wheat as green manure
- 3sunflower
- 4faba beans(Pigeon bean)
- 5durum wheatred cloverUndersown in wheat as green manure
conventional- 1maizesugar beet until 2006
- 2wheat
- 3sunflower
- 4faba beans(Pigeon bean)
- 5durum wheat
- Factor
- Factor name
- Factor levels
- farming system
organic agriculture
conventional agriculture
- Measurement
Variable Material Units Frequency Scale Comment crop yields Not specified
Related publications
- Comparison of organic and conventional stockless arable systems: A multidisciplinary approach to soil quality evaluation (2010) Mazzoncini et al. Applied Soil https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2009.11.001 [In English]
- The MASCOT (Mediterranean Arable Systems COmparison Trial) long-term experiment (Pisa, Italy) Barberi & Mazzoncini