Nitrogen release dynamics of cover crop mixtures in a subtropical agroecosystem were rapid and species-specific

Nyabami, Precious; Maltais‐Landry, Gabriel; Lin, Yang

doi:10.1007/s11104-023-06183-4

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Although there were no significant treatment effects on the regression residuals, the mixture treatment often leaned towards SOM mineralization compared to other treatments (Figure 3). Mixing legume and grass cover crops often increases decomposition rates in agroecosystems (Nyabami et al, 2023;Poffenbarger et al, 2015), hence it is possible that the mixture had a more pronounced impact on Cmin compared to POX-C (Hurisso et al, 2016). Nevertheless, our findings add to a growing body of literature that illustrates the potential of POX-C and Cmin as early indicators of soil C in response to management practices (Franzluebbers & Stuedemann, 2008;Rudrappa et al, 2006;Singh & Benbi, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Three years of cover crops management increased soil organic matter and labile carbon pools in a subtropical vegetable agroecosystem

Nyabami,

Weinrich,

Maltais‐Landry

et al. 2024

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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Cover crops have been widely adopted to improve soil functions in agroecosystems, including providing carbon (C) inputs that can contribute to soil C sequestration. However, soil C changes may be slow after introducing cover crops in unfavorable environments for soil organic matter (SOM) accumulation, like the Southeast United States subtropical region characterized by a warm humid climate, and coarse‐textured soils. We examined labile C pools as potential early indicators of SOM changes after cover crop introduction in a sandy subtropical vegetable production system. We compared the effects of four cover crop monocultures namely two grasses [sorghum sudangrass, Sorghum bicolor × S bicolor var. Sudanese and pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.], two legumes (sunn hemp, Crotalaria juncea L., and cowpea, Vigna unguiculata Walp.), and one four‐species mixture on soil organic carbon pools for 3 years. Soil samples were collected at a 15‐cm depth before cover crop planting and post cover crop incorporation to assess changes in SOM, permanganate‐oxidizable carbon (POX‐C), mineralizable carbon (Cmin), and water extractable organic carbon (WEOC). The incorporation of cover crops increased concentrations of SOM, POX‐C, and Cmin in year 3 relative to their baseline values in year 1. Concentration of SOM increased by 0.24 ± 0.05% (mean ± standard error) after 3 years of cover crop management. However, concentrations of WEOC significantly decreased in years 2 and 3 relative to the baseline. Monocultures and the mixture had similar effects on measured C pools, likely due to comparable aboveground biomass production. Our findings highlight the potential of POX‐C and Cmin as early indicators of SOM accumulation driven by cover crops use, as well as the capacity of cover crops to build SOM in similar subtropical systems and coarser textured soils.

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