The Diverfarming project has obtained seven litres of essential oil per hectare from winter thyme, as the result of diversifying dryland almonds in Murcia
The essential oil of winter thyme (Thymus hyemalis) has become one of the first results of the European Diverfarming project, financed through the European Commission’s H2020 programme, for experimenting and introducing crop diversification and sustainable management techniques.
The diversification with winter thyme in dryland farming in an experimental farm (Los Escuderos, Murcia) dedicated to almond (Prunus dulcis) monocropping seeks to obtain economic profit with the double harvest of almonds and thyme, and also aims to recover soil health in very eroded terrain which has little organic matter in the soil.
The first harvest of the thyme planted among the dryland almonds, cropped in March this year, has yielded a mean oil content of 0.62%; this corresponds to the millilitres of oil extracted from 100 grams of fresh matter. Therefore, around seven litres of essential oil has been extracted per hectare from this farm’s harvest. Although these plants are not usually grown, among other reasons because they are not the most productive thymes, and they are usually harvested from wild plants. However, several experimental studies of dryland and irrigated monocropping with the same species point to considerably higher yields and productions. With another species of thyme, and diversifying almonds, an experimental study found results similar to those shown herein. Due to the early flowering of winter thyme it allows this essence to be on the market earlier when compared to other thyme and aromatic plants, which generates certain economic interest.
This plant (Thymus hyemalis) is endemic in Alicante, Murcia and Almería, and grows spontaneously in the spots of natural vegetation that can be found in the study zone. The simultaneous flowering of almonds and winter thyme has attracted pollinators to the farm, giving rise to an explosion of colours and smells as well as a good harvest.
The objective of planting these thyme plants is multiple, it may potentially result in a co-benefit for both the grower, with scant income in dryland, as well as an environmental benefit considering the protection that they exercise in the soil against erosion, the improvement that they bring to the soil quality and the positive effect on pollinators. Given the broad plantation framework that dryland almonds usually have, the presence of a vegetation cover prevents the alleys between the almonds from being completely bare and exposed to erosion, with the consequent loss in soil fertility. Moreover, these winter thymes can live in soils that are very impoverished in organic matter, and can endure cycles of extreme drought and severe flooding.
This is one of the two diversifications that the Diverfarming project is studying in this experimental zone, with the other being the caper (Capparis spinosa). In a landscape with greater biodiversity, they seek to assess the environmental benefits of crop diversification, such as the improvement in soil quality and protection against erosion, whilst taking into account its effect on the almond production. This research is directly supervised by the group of Conservation of Soils and Water at the CEBAS (CSIC).
Diverfarming is a project financed by the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission, within the challenge of “Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy”, coordinated by the University of Cartagena (Spain) and counts on the participation of the Universities of Córdoba (Spain), Tuscia (Italy), Exeter and Portsmouth (United Kingdom), Wageningen (Netherlands), Trier (Germany), Pecs (Hungary) and ETH Zurich (Switzerland), the research centres Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (Italy), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain) and the Natural Resources Institute LUKE (Finland), the Agrarian Organisation ASAJA, and the Companies Casalasco and Barilla (Italy), Arento, LogísticaDFM and Industrias David (Spain), Nieuw Bromo Van Tilburg and Ekoboerdeij de Lingehof (Netherlands), Weingut Dr. Frey (Germany), Nedel-Market KFT and Gere (Hungary) and Paavolan Kotijuustola and Polven Juustola (Finland).
