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A root-centric
perspective
Cover Crop Effects
on Soil Health
Managing & Monitoring
WIU AGRICULTURE
Joel
Gruver
Big Hugh, how long
will it take to win
the war against
soil erosion?
Montgomery Cty, IA
> $300 billion in
technical &
financial
assistance
http://www.swcs.org/documents/filelibrary/BeyondTreport.pdf
(2008)
> 7
0 y
ears
late
r
olerable
degradation
We haven’t
won the war
but there is
growing
recognition
that soil
improvement
is a better
goal than
Lookin’ real green in the neighborhood http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=596669
Home of the
Tillage Radish
Major progress has been made in some areas…
…but CCs are used by less than 20% of farmers in most counties
Farmers are at the forefront of
Cover Crop Innovation
Is this
really
possible?
The classification of 60% or more of the sampled pedons
differed from the original. Classification of 15-32% of the
sampled pedons changed at the Order (or equivalent)
level with 11 to 33% of the pedons originally classified as
Black soils (i..e. Mollisols, Chernozems…) no longer
classified as Black soils
This is going in the wrong direction!
Soil Changes After Sixty Years of Land Use in IowaJessica Veenstra, Iowa State University, 1126 Agronomy Hall, Iowa State
University, Ames, IA 50010
Soils form slowly, thus on human time scales, soil is essentially a non-
renewable resource. Therefore in order to maintain and manage our limited
soil resources sustainably, we must try to document, monitor and understand
human induced changes in soil properties. By comparing current soil
properties to an archived database of soil properties, this study assesses
some of the changes that have occurred over the last 60 years, and attempts
to link those changes to natural and human induced processes. This study
was conducted across Iowa where the primary land use has been row crop
agriculture and pasture. We looked at changes in A horizon depth, color,
texture, structure, organic carbon content and pH.
Hill top and backslope landscape positions have been
significantly degraded.
Catchment areas have deeper topsoil.
-> significant loss of
productivity
-> little gain in
productivity
This past fall, students in my Soil Properties class brought in paired
(Crop field & Fence Row) soils from their family’s farm. In most cases,
the fence row soils had higher carbon dioxide and ammonia production.
What do the analytical results tell us?
More informed
decision making???
Informed decision making requires regional calibration!
Consistent depth of sampling is important!
In essentially all cases where conservation
tillage was found to sequester C, soils were
only sampled to a depth of 30 cm or less…
Sometimes the story
changes with depth
of sampling
Hayfield
~ 5 yrs
ago
Slabaugh Farm
Goshen, IN
Former
hayfield Even more
perplexing
Uniform
management for
> 40 years
Smith Family Farms - KS
Former
hayfieldIntensive soil
sampling has
not explained
the consistent
difference in
productivity
Smith Family Farms - KS
Farmers want to understand
what yield maps are telling
them about their soils
Some yield
variability is
easy to
explain
Pattern
tiling
The main factor
driving yield variation
in this field is
BELOW the plow layer!
Maybe
we need
to take a
deeper look
@ soil health
It is becoming clear that root traits are
important drivers of many ecosystem
processes such as C and nutrient
cycling and the formation and
stabilization of soil structure
Bardgett et al.(2014)
In this review, we propose the use of suitable plant
species, termed primer-plants, for the primary
purpose of preparing soil conditions for the benefit
of following crops.
Proportions of roots of the current crop
recolonizing root induced macropores (RIMs) of
the previous crop averaged 18% for corn after
corn, 22% for alfalfa after corn and 41% for corn
after alfalfa…
Our data suggest that surface mulch and deep root
channels left by winter cover crops can be
advantageous for summer crop growth, particularly
when soils are highly compacted. Tap-rooted forage
radish and rapeseed cover crops enhanced corn
root access to subsurface soil water by providing
deep root channels in compacted soils
soil penetration capabilities
radish > rapeseed > rye
“Within 2-4 weeks we began to see the ryegrass extract
break down the fragipan… not only does ryegrass have a
deep root system that can penetrate the pan, but it also
releases a chemical or chemicals that can help break it”
– AD Karathanasis
Impact of preceding cover crops
on cash crop root density
Chen and Weil (2011)
Soil moisture sensors
showed more rapid water use
by corn roots (and more
rapid recharge of soil
moisture after rains) in the
subsoil of plots previously
growing forage radish
compared to plots previously
growing rye or no cover crop.
In contrast, the rye cover provided more residue mulch
than the radish and so conserved more water in the
surface soil above the plow pan.
Soil/crop management systems
impact the 1) movement of
water, 2) storage of water, and
3) volume of soil from which
crop roots acquire water and
other resources.
How should we target our management
to most improve crop access to water?
Predicted Soil
Hydrologic Properties
The calculator predicts
soil hydrologic
properties based on
soil texture as well as
modulating factors:
OM, salinity, gravel
content and
compaction
Based on data from
~ 2000 soil samples
+ 10%
+ 150%
- 14%
- 86%
Water movement
(infiltration vs. run-off)
and depth/volume of soil
from which crop roots acquire
water and other resources
are much more sensitive to
management than
water holding capacity
Kautz et al. (2012)
A conceptual model of nutrient acquisition from the SUBSOIL
Subsoil
supplies more
than water
Brady and Weil (2002)Brady and Weil (2002)
Sub-soil water
and nutrients
Compaction strongly impacts root growth and function
Least Limiting Water Range
dry Soil water content, cm3/cm3 *100 wet
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
LLWR for loose well-aggregated soil
LLWR for compacted soilNot
enough O2
for root
respiration
Soil too
hard for
roots to
penetrate
Ray Weil
Compacted soils are
more easily penetrated
when wet BUT only
some CC species can
tolerate wet soils
Annual ryegrass is
very tolerant of
wet soil conditions
Brassicas are not!
Many of you are
probably familiar with
the extraordinary
root illustrations by
John E.Weaver
Depth (ft) %sand %silt %clay
0-0.5 31 34 35
0.5-1 33 29 38
1-2 23 31 47
2-3 20 31 49
3-4 22 34 44
4-5 25 37 37
Soil particle size variation with depth at
Dr. Weaver’s research farm (Lincoln, NE)
Deep rooting in this soil
required excellent structure!
Long term no-till(w/ healthy soil biology)Intensive tillage
Ontario Ministry of Ag and Food
Plow pan
Network
of cracks
and
biopores
Different species
of worms make
different types of
biopores!
more roots
+ more worms
-------------------
more biopores
Soil/crop management strategies
for optimum root growth and function
• Alleviate existing physical, chemical and/or biological
barriers to root growth
• Prevent development of physical, chemical and/or
biological barriers to root growth
• Plant crops on soils for which they are well adapted
•Treat seeds/roots with biological inoculants to enhance
root-enhancing biological relationships
•Grow strategic sequences of crops/cover crops to
maximize a positive cycle of root zone improvement
Perennial-based
rotation systems
Tree cropsPermanent pasture systems
Winter cover crops
Green Lands = Blue Waters
Conservation
Cropping Systems
The best
way to grow
biopores!
Go beyond T - Manage for C!
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_organic_matter/som.html
D
Go beyond T - Manage for C!
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_organic_matter/som.html
DEPTH!
Effectiveness of conservation practices
should be assessed with respect to
impact on root growth and function
NOT tons of soil loss.
I encourage all of you to think deeper
New methods and
new priorities can
provide an invaluable
ROOT’S EYE VIEW
of soil health