Soil Particulate and Mineral-Associated Organic Matter Increases in Organic Farming under Cover Cropping and Manure Addition

Kauer, Karin; Pärnpuu, Sandra; Talgre, Liina; Eremeev, Viacheslav; Luik, Anne

doi:10.3390/agriculture11090903

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 116 publications

(210 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, no study was located in semiarid or arid regions (<500 mm precipitation). A study under the lowest precipitation amount (544 mm) was located in Tartu, Estonia (Kauer et al, 2021). At this location, CCs increased labile SOC concentration when CCs produced about 1.51 Mg ha −1 of biomass.…”

Section: Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

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Do cover crops impact labile C more than total C? Data synthesis

Blanco‐Canqui

2023

Soil Use and Management

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The potential of cover crops (CC) to increase total soil organic C (SOC) concentration can be inconsistent, but labile SOC is considered to be more sensitive to management than total SOC. This leads to two questions: Do CCs impact labile SOC more than total SOC? Do CCs increase labile SOC more rapidly than total SOC? This review compares CC impacts on labile and total SOC based on CC studies reporting both parameters up to 31 Dec 2022. Labile and total SOC concentrations were measured in 31 CC study locations. Cover crops increased labile SOC concentration in 58% (18 of 31) and had no effect in 42% (13 of 31) of locations, suggesting CCs do not increase labile SOC in all cases. Within the 18 locations, CCs increased labile SOC without increasing total SOC in only 19% (6 of 31 locations), while in the rest (12 of 31) of locations, CCs increased both labile and total SOC. Thus, CCs increased labile SOC more rapidly than total SOC in only one-fifth of cases. Also, the few studies that monitored changes in labile SOC with time found CCs do not always increase labile more rapidly than total SOC. In the 12 locations where CCs increased both labile and total SOC, CCs increased labile SOC by 54 ± 30% and total SOC by 23 ± 10%, indicating CCs can increase labile SOC by about two times compared with total SOC in some locations. Increased CC biomass production and reduced residue decomposition can increase labile SOC.Overall, CCs increase labile SOC in most cases but may not always increase labile SOC more rapidly than total SOC although more CC studies monitoring changes in SOC pools with time are needed to better understand CC impacts on SOC fractions under different CC management scenarios and climatic conditions.

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Section: Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These findings indicate that changes in both labile and total SOC concentrations can be significantly related to those in CC biomass production. An increase in CC biomass production can directly increase the amount of C input into the soil as CC residues contain about 45% of C (Beltrán et al, 2021; Kauer et al, 2021).…”

Section: Cover Crop Biomass Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do cover crops impact labile C more than total C? Data synthesis

Blanco‐Canqui

2023

Soil Use and Management

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“…Soils with higher organic matter and cover crops do not freeze to as great a depth in cold periods, and at the beginning of the season, they warm up faster and thus microbiological activities start sooner. This is related to the higher C content of organically managed soils [31,35], which also improves the water-holding capacity of these soils.…”

Section: Changes In Soil Microbial Hydrolytic Activity During the Stu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Microbial Activity in Different Cropping Systems under Long-Term Crop Rotation

et al. 2022

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Soil microbes play a key role in the nutrient cycling by decomposing the organic material into plant-available elements and also by maintaining the soil health. The study of soil microbial hydrolytic activity (SMA) was carried out in a long-term crop rotation (barley undersown (us) with red clover, red clover, winter wheat, pea and potato) experiment in five different farming systems during 2014–2018. There were two conventional systems, with chemical plant protection and mineral fertilizers, and three organic systems, which included winter cover crops and composted manure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the (i) cropping system and (ii) precrops in rotation on the soil SMA. The soil microbial hydrolytic activity was significantly affected by yearly weather conditions, farming system, and crops. In all farming systems, the SMA was the lowest after dry and cold conditions during early spring in 2018. In unfertilized conventional systems, the considerably lower SMA is explained by the side effects of pesticides and low organic residuals, and we can conclude that the conventional system with no added fertilizer or organic matter is not sustainable, considering soil health. In each year, the SMA of organic systems with cover crops and composted manure was 7.3–14.0% higher compared to all farming systems. On average, for both farming systems, the SMA of all the rotation crops was positively correlated with the SMA values of precrops. However, in conventional farming systems, the effect of undersowing on the SMA of the precrop was smaller compared to organic systems.

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“…There was a non-significant increase in SOM under the effect of the termination method (tillage) and its interaction with crop type but a significant effect of cover crop type (p ≤ 0.05). 3 phosphorus/aluminum ratio, 4 significant effects of experimental treatments or their interactions are considered for p ≤ 0.05, * significant, NS non-significant.…”

Section: The Field Trialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, SOM contributes markedly to the soil acid-base buffering capacity, determined by soil pH, and represents an essential source of plant nutrients. The concentration of SOM in agricultural soils is a function of the type and/or method of the incorporated crop residues and the rate of their decomposition [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Cover Crop Types and Residue Incorporation in Improving Soil Chemical Properties

et al. 2021

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Soil chemical properties can be improved by incorporating crop residues in soil and letting it decompose. This study explored the use of incorporating residues of cover crops for improvements in soil chemical properties including soil organic matter (SOM), soil pH, and the selected soil macro- and micronutrients in greenhouse and field trials. Factors of interest included (i) cover crops and their combinations and (ii) methods of crop termination and incorporation in soil (disc, mow + disc, glyphosate, roller crimper). The greenhouse trial showed up to a 20% higher amount of SOM accumulated in soils incorporated with crop residues. Buckwheat (3.12%) and phacelia (3.12%) produced significantly different and larger SOM than that of the control treatment that received no crop residues (p ≤ 0.05). The soil pH of the brown mustard treatment was also significantly affected by the experimental treatments (p ≤ 0.05). The incorporation of crop residues did not affect soil phosphorous (P) or potassium (K) concentrations, except for brown mustard, with significantly higher values of P and K than the control treatment. Calcium (Ca) was significantly higher in the soil of phacelia + pea treatment (p ≤ 0.05). Buckwheat + pea produced a higher concentration of Ca (1028 mg/kg) followed by buckwheat alone (1006 mg/kg). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) calculated on the results of the field trial showed that the mix treatment that had a mixture of four cover crops significantly increased the SOM content. Buckwheat produced the highest (2.95%) SOM, then brown mustard and timothy. This study concludes that, irrespective of the tillage incorporation methods, the residues from cover crops are a potential source of improvement in soil health, and this practice may promote sustainable agriculture in conditions similar to those in this study.

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Soil Particulate and Mineral-Associated Organic Matter Increases in Organic Farming under Cover Cropping and Manure Addition

Cited by 15 publications

References 116 publications

Do cover crops impact labile C more than total C? Data synthesis

Do cover crops impact labile C more than total C? Data synthesis

Soil Microbial Activity in Different Cropping Systems under Long-Term Crop Rotation

The Role of Cover Crop Types and Residue Incorporation in Improving Soil Chemical Properties

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