Cover Crop Impacts on Soil Health Properties in Indiana

Cover Crop Impacts on Soil Health Properties in Indiana PDF Author: Holland L. Hauenstein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description

Cover Crop Impacts on Soil Health Properties in Indiana

Cover Crop Impacts on Soil Health Properties in Indiana PDF Author: Holland L. Hauenstein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. )

Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. ) PDF Author: Andy Clark
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437903797
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

Soil Management

Soil Management PDF Author: Jerry L. Hatfield
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0891188533
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book Here

Book Description
Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.

Cover Crops and Sustainable Agriculture

Cover Crops and Sustainable Agriculture PDF Author: Rafiq Islam
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 100040711X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book will not serve as the "encyclopedia of cover crop management," but it’s close. The benefits of a wide range of individual cover crops and blends/mixes for specific agronomic crop rotations and geographic locations are included. Descriptions, photographs, and illustrations show how cover crops look in the field, including plant height, leaf architecture, and rooting patterns. Long term benefits are described for soil health, soil structure, water quality, nutrient contributions, soil biodiversity, air quality and climate change. In addition to the "whys" of cover crop use, the book includes details on the "hows:" how to choose cover crops for specific applications and locations; how (and when) to plant; how to manage and maintain the cover for maximum benefit; and how and when to terminate. Planting options include: drilling/planting between rows of an agronomic crop at planting time, or when the crop is short (i.e. corn in early June); "aerial" seeding with an airplane or high-clearance machine shortly before the crop reaches maturity; and drilling/planting immediately after harvest of the agronomic crop. Selected cover crops (blends) can help with pest and disease management. Cover crops are an economic input with an expected return on investment, similar to pesticides and fertilizer. As part of a continuous no-till system, cover crops provide long-term biological, chemical and structural benefits. The resulting increase in soil organic matter means the agronomic crop yields benefit from better water infiltration and water holding capacity, greater availability of nitrogen and other nutrients, deeper rooting, and increased soil microbial activity in the root zone.

Conservation Agriculture in the Heartland

Conservation Agriculture in the Heartland PDF Author: Lillian Clarissa Cobo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781088300732
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Get Book Here

Book Description
The benefits of cover crops are widely recognized by those interested in conservation agriculture and soil health. These benefits include soil erosion control, nutrient loss reduction, and overall improvement of soil health. However, while these benefits are well-documented, the adoption rate of cover crops in the American Heartland remains astoundingly low. While some studies have attempted to determine the reasons for this low adoption rate, the information relating to how farmer perceptions of soil health impact cover crop adoption is almost nonexistent. Furthermore, there is a clear absence of mixed method studies in the literature relating to this subject. This study takes an alternative approach by focusing on the relationship of soil health perceptions to cover crop adoption, and by utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. This study analyzed in-depth interview data from grain farmers throughout the Heartland that centered on land management, and specifically the relationship of soil health to cover crop adoption. Additionally, the study analyzed quantitative soil health data in conjunction with the interview data to provide more substantiated conclusions.

Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services

Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services PDF Author: Humberto Blanco
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0891186395
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services A comprehensive resource on cover crops and their role in soil ecosystems Cover crops are a reemerging strategy to improve and maintain the services that soils provide. They can have an enormous affect on agricultural outcomes, preventing soil erosion, restoring vital soil nutrients, sequestering C from the atmosphere, and more. The successful management and use of cover crops is therefore critical to ensure soil ecosystem services are maintained or improved not only to meet our demands for food, fuel, fiber, and feed but also to reduce pollution and improve the soil. Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services provides a heavily researched and highly readable introduction to cover crops and their role in soil ecosystems. It ranges from a detailed discussion of cover crop biomass production to a thorough treatment of soil ecosystems and their vulnerabilities. The result is an essential guide to a critical area of agricultural science. Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services readers will also find: Detailed treatment of cover crop biomass production, soil erosion, greenhouse gas fluxes, nitrate leaching, soil C sequestration, and more Discussion of emerging issues, including extreme weather events and the economics of cover crop farming Wide-ranging summaries of interdisciplinary soil and cover crop research Cover Crops and Soil Ecosystem Services is a useful reference for students and researchers at all levels of study relating to cover crop agriculture.

Impacts of Cover Crop and Residue Removal on Soil Hydraulic and Thermal Properties

Impacts of Cover Crop and Residue Removal on Soil Hydraulic and Thermal Properties PDF Author: Michael T. Sindelar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crop residues
Languages : en
Pages : 97

Get Book Here

Book Description
Large-scale crop residue removal for livestock or biofuel production may negatively affect soil and water resources. A combination of management practices could be the key to manage such resources under increasingly variable climate. For instance, use of cover crops (CCs) could offset the negative impacts that corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal may have on soil water and energy balance. We studied: 1) the effect of corn residue removal (56%) with and without winter rye (Secale cereale L.) CC on soil hydraulic and thermal properties including water infiltration, water retention, pores-size distribution, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity, 2) whether CCs offset any negative impacts of residue removal effects on the above properties, and 3) relationships of hydraulic and thermal properties with soil organic C and other properties. An experiment of corn residue removal and CCs in an irrigated no-till continuous corn located in south central Nebraska was used. All soil properties were measured 5 and 6 years after experiment onset except water infiltration and soil thermal properties, which were measured only after 6 years. Cover crops generally had no effect on soil hydraulic and thermal properties but increased soil organic C concentration (p = 0.10) in the 0 to 5 cm depth. However, corn residue removal consistently affected soil properties in the 0 to 10 cm soil depth. Residue removal reduced cumulative infiltration by 22 to 58% compared with no removal. It also reduced available water by 21 to 31%, thermal conductivity by 19 to 28%, specific heat capacity by 23 to 28%, soil wet aggregate stability by 17 to 30%, and soil organic C concentration by 25% in the 0 to 5 cm depth. The reduction in available water with residue removal was strongly correlated with a decrease in soil organic C concentration and wet aggregate stability. Thermal conductivity decreased with a decrease in soil water content, soil organic C, and bulk density due to residue removal. In conclusion, corn residue removal negatively impacted soil hydraulic and thermal properties and CCs were unable to completely offset but partially mitigated the negative impacts of residue removal.

Soil Health Analysis, Set

Soil Health Analysis, Set PDF Author: Douglas L. Karlen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0891189904
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 527

Get Book Here

Book Description
Volume 1 briefly reviews selected “Approaches to Soil Health Analysis” including a brief history of the concept, challenges and opportunities, meta-data and assessment, applications to forestry and urban land reclamation, and future soil health monitoring and evaluation approaches. Volume 2 focuses on “Laboratory Methods for Soil Health Analysis” including an overview and suggested analytical approaches intended to provide meaningful, comparable data so that soil health can be used to guide restoration and protection of our global soil resources.

Soil Organic Matter and Feeding the Future

Soil Organic Matter and Feeding the Future PDF Author: Rattan Lal
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000483916
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book Here

Book Description
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the primary determinant of soil functionality. Soil organic carbon (SOC) accounts for 50% of the SOM content, accompanied by nitrogen, phosphorus, and a range of macro and micro elements. As a dynamic component, SOM is a source of numerous ecosystem services critical to human well-being and nature conservancy. Important among these goods and services generated by SOM include moderation of climate as a source or sink of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases, storage and purification of water, a source of energy and habitat for biota (macro, meso, and micro-organisms), a medium for plant growth, cycling of elements (N, P, S, etc.), and generation of net primary productivity (NPP). The quality and quantity of NPP has direct impacts on the food and nutritional security of the growing and increasingly affluent human population. Soils of agroecosystems are depleted of their SOC reserves in comparison with those of natural ecosystems. The magnitude of depletion depends on land use and the type and severity of degradation. Soils prone to accelerated erosion can be strongly depleted of their SOC reserves, especially those in the surface layer. Therefore, conservation through restorative land use and adoption of recommended management practices to create a positive soil-ecosystem carbon budget can increase carbon stock and soil health. This volume of Advances in Soil Sciences aims to accomplish the following: Present impacts of land use and soil management on SOC dynamics Discuss effects of SOC levels on agronomic productivity and use efficiency of inputs Detail potential of soil management on the rate and cumulative amount of carbon sequestration in relation to land use and soil/crop management Deliberate the cause-effect relationship between SOC content and provisioning of some ecosystem services Relate soil organic carbon stock to soil properties and processes Establish the relationship between soil organic carbon stock with land and climate Identify controls of making soil organic carbon stock as a source or sink of CO2 Connect soil organic carbon and carbon sequestration for climate mitigation and adaptation

Continuous Living Cover: Adaptive Strategies for Putting Regenerative Agriculture into Practice

Continuous Living Cover: Adaptive Strategies for Putting Regenerative Agriculture into Practice PDF Author: Jacob Jungers
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 283254164X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book Here

Book Description