Author: Lindsay Chamberlain Malone (Ph.D.)Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Soil is the foundation for human civilization - it is the literal foundation of our homes, the source of raw materials, a filter and storage system for the water we drink, a medium for plant growth, and a habitat for many organisms. Keeping the soils of our planet healthy to carry out these functions is incredibly important. In agriculture, there is a building movement to study and improve soil health across the landscape, of which this research is a small part. This body of research addresses several areas within soil health; how we define and test for healthy soil, practices that may help build healthier soil, and some of the practical challenges of managing for soil health. We specifically focused on annual row crop systems in the North Central US region, and in particular soybean production. First, we focused on a few practical soil health tests that could be adopted by farmers - linking these measurements to both historical management and soybean yield. This study was a community-science project that relied on the help of Wisconsin soybean farmers to sample their fields and relay management information. The results of this study will help direct future research and identified crop rotation as a key area for soil health improvement. Next, we examined some common production practices related to building soil health and their effects on crop yield using long-term crop rotation studies. We looked at the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and foliar fungicide use on corn and soybean yield, and the legacy effect of the latter two of these treatments on soil fungal populations. Microbial communities carry out critical functions in soil, so it is important to understand how human activity shapes their populations. Finally, another long-term rotation study was used to look at the feasibility and yield effects of establishing cover crops, a key soil health practice, in annual row crop systems in Wisconsin. Overall, this work identifies avenues for both measuring and improving soil health in North Central US soybean.
