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On-farm assessment of cover cropping effects on soil C and N pools, enzyme activities, and microbial community structure

Part of: AGS Millet Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2021

Hanxiao Feng ,
Udayakumar Sekaran ,
Tong Wang  and
Sandeep Kumar Open the ORCID record for Sandeep Kumar [Opens in a new window]
Hanxiao Feng
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, Horticulture, and Plant Science, South Dakota State University, South Dakota, USA
Udayakumar Sekaran
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA
Tong Wang
Affiliation:
Ness School of Management and Economics, South Dakota State University, South Dakota, USA
Sandeep Kumar*
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy, Horticulture, and Plant Science, South Dakota State University, South Dakota, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Sandeep Kumar, Email: Sandeep.Kumar@sdstate.edu
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Abstract

Introducing cover crops (CC) in annual cropping systems can promote nutrient cycling and improve soil health. However, impacts of CC on soil health indicators vary and depend on the duration of CC, cropping systems, and other environmental conditions. We performed an on-farm assessment of cover cropping impacts on soil health indicators including C and N pools, enzyme activities, and microbial community structure under different no-till maize-based cropping systems (maize (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.) [CS], CS-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) [CSWw], and maize-oats (Avena sativa L.) [CO]). At five farms, fields with different durations of CC were compared to adjacent no CC (NCC) fields. In general, long-term CC enhanced the soil health parameters compared to NCC. Long-term (20-year) winter rye CC had higher water-extractable C and N content, enzyme activities (β-glucosidase (1.2 times greater), urease (5.5 times greater), acid (1.5 times greater) and alkaline (4 times greater) phosphatase, arylsulfatase (0.8 times greater) and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) (0.7 times greater)) and soil bacterial community abundance (1.2 times greater). Short-term (3–6 years) legume and grass CC mixtures increased β-glucosidase (0.9 times), acid (0.7 times) and alkaline (1.5 times) phosphatase, arylsulfatase (3 times), FDA (0.8 times) activities and total phospholipid fatty acid (1.6 times) concentration. However, short-term (3–6 years) winter rye, legume and brassica mixtures did not significantly alter soil microbial community structure. This study showed that implementation of CC for >6 years promoted C, N, S, and P cycling that are beneficial to soil health in maize-based cropping systems.

Keywords

Cover cropmicrobial community structurePLFAsoil healthsoil microbial biomasssoil enzymes
Type
Crops and Soils Research Paper
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 159 , Issue 3-4 , April 2021 , pp. 216 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2021

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