The Role of Cover Crops towards Sustainable Soil Health and Agriculture—A Review Paper

Abstract

Cover crops are the plants which are grown to improve soil fertility, prevent soil erosion, enrichment and protection of soil, and enhance nutrient and water availability, and quality of soil. Cover crops provide several benefits to soils used for agriculture production. Cover crops are helpful in increasing and sustaining microbial biodiversity in soils. We summarized the effect of several cover crops in soil properties such as soil moisture content, soil microbial activities, soil carbon sequestration, nitrate leaching, soil water, and soil health. Selection of cover crops usually depends on the primary benefits which are provided by cover crops. Other factors may also include weather conditions, time of sowing, either legume or non-legume and timing and method of killing of a cover crop. In recent times, cover crops are also used for mitigating climate change, suppressing weeds in crops and increasing exchangeable nutrients such as Mg 2+ and K +. Cover crops are also found to be economical in long-term experiment studies. Although some limitations always come with several benefits. Cover crops have some problems including the method of killing, host for pathogens, regeneration, and not immediate benefits of using them. Despite the few limitations, cover crops improve the overall health of the soil and provide a sustainable environment for the main crops.

The evaluation of basal respiration and some chemical properties of soils under cover crop treatments in a cherry orchard

“…Conventional tillage (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1993) and no-tillage system with a ryegrass cover crop in cotton (Gossipium hirsutum L.) was investigated for the microbial count in soil. Ryegrass cover crop in conventional tillage and no-tillage system maintained a higher microbial population in the upper layer compare to no-cover plots (Sharma et al, 2018a). found that highest basal soil respiration values (41.5 mg CO2 100 g -1 ) was obtained in the Vicia villosa Roth treatment while the lowest BSR values (12.5 mg CO2 100 g -1 ) was in the control in the apricot orchard with a clay textured.…”

“…Percent increases in the extractable K over the control soil varied between 3.4-34.5% in 2013 and 9.5-49.4% in 2014. Aside from the diverse benefits or effects of cover crops on soil, very little is known about the effect of CCs on exchangeable cations and micronutrients of soils (Sharma et al, 2018a). The amount of exchangeable Ca, Mg, K and Na are vital attribute of soils.…”

“…Eckert (1991) found that the accumulation of exchangeable K at the surface soil was improved by inclusion of rye cover crop. Sharma et al (2018a) determined that incorporating cover crops in no-tillage seed soybean or maize cropping systems might help in maintaining the exchangeable Mg content better than no cover crop application.…”

Effects of Non-Leguminous Cover Crops on Yield and Quality of Baby Corn (Zea mays L.) Grown under Subtropical Conditions

“…Non-leguminous cover crops have been also reported to reduce nitrate leaching losses [16,17]. The use of legume-grass mixtures could combine the benefits of both, including N fixation, biomass production, and N scavenging [18,19].The selection of cover crops for a given region requires, among others, knowledge of their growth potentials [20,21]. The major climatic variables affecting cover crop selection include temperature and rainfall [22].…”

“…The selection of cover crops for a given region requires, among others, knowledge of their growth potentials [20,21]. The major climatic variables affecting cover crop selection include temperature and rainfall [22].…”