Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields

Conservation management practices can improve soil health while minimizing deleterious effects of agriculture on the environment. However, adoption of these practices, particularly cover crops, is not widespread, as they often reduce crop yields compared to traditional management practices. The purp...

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Autor principal:	Heather L. Tyler
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	cover crops soil health soil enzymes microbial biomass conservation management no tillage Agriculture S
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5b85ebdde45446ea93fb68ca403a1476
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5b85ebdde45446ea93fb68ca403a14762021-11-25T16:11:51ZSingle- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields10.3390/agronomy111123342073-4395https://doaj.org/article/5b85ebdde45446ea93fb68ca403a14762021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/11/2334https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4395Conservation management practices can improve soil health while minimizing deleterious effects of agriculture on the environment. However, adoption of these practices, particularly cover crops, is not widespread, as they often reduce crop yields compared to traditional management practices. The purpose of the current study was to determine if a two-species cover crop treatment of rye (<i>Secale cereale</i> L.) and crimson clover (<i>Trifolium incarnatum</i> L.) could increase soil health parameters and maximize soybean (<i>Glycine max</i> L.) yield greater than rye only in tilled and no-till Mississippi field soils. Enhanced microbial biomass and organic matter input from cover crops increased the activities of β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, N-acetylglucosaminidase, and phosphatase in surface soils. Rye plus clover tended to elicit higher activities than rye only in no-till plots. Both cover crop treatments inhibited soybean yield in tilled plots by 11–25%. These results indicate that tillage exacerbates yield inhibition by cover crops in soybean and that double-species cover crop treatments were more consistent in increasing activities linked to nutrient cycling. Further study examining different combinations of cover crops in no-till systems is necessary to gain a better understanding of how they can be implemented to enhance soil health while maximizing crop yield.Heather L. TylerMDPI AGarticlecover cropssoil healthsoil enzymesmicrobial biomassconservation managementno tillageAgricultureSENAgronomy, Vol 11, Iss 2334, p 2334 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	cover crops soil health soil enzymes microbial biomass conservation management no tillage Agriculture S
spellingShingle	cover crops soil health soil enzymes microbial biomass conservation management no tillage Agriculture S Heather L. Tyler Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
description	Conservation management practices can improve soil health while minimizing deleterious effects of agriculture on the environment. However, adoption of these practices, particularly cover crops, is not widespread, as they often reduce crop yields compared to traditional management practices. The purpose of the current study was to determine if a two-species cover crop treatment of rye (<i>Secale cereale</i> L.) and crimson clover (<i>Trifolium incarnatum</i> L.) could increase soil health parameters and maximize soybean (<i>Glycine max</i> L.) yield greater than rye only in tilled and no-till Mississippi field soils. Enhanced microbial biomass and organic matter input from cover crops increased the activities of β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, N-acetylglucosaminidase, and phosphatase in surface soils. Rye plus clover tended to elicit higher activities than rye only in no-till plots. Both cover crop treatments inhibited soybean yield in tilled plots by 11–25%. These results indicate that tillage exacerbates yield inhibition by cover crops in soybean and that double-species cover crop treatments were more consistent in increasing activities linked to nutrient cycling. Further study examining different combinations of cover crops in no-till systems is necessary to gain a better understanding of how they can be implemented to enhance soil health while maximizing crop yield.
format	article
author	Heather L. Tyler
author_facet	Heather L. Tyler
author_sort	Heather L. Tyler
title	Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
title_short	Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
title_full	Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
title_fullStr	Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
title_full_unstemmed	Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields
title_sort	single- versus double-species cover crop effects on soil health and yield in mississippi soybean fields
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/5b85ebdde45446ea93fb68ca403a1476
work_keys_str_mv	AT heatherltyler singleversusdoublespeciescovercropeffectsonsoilhealthandyieldinmississippisoybeanfields
_version_	1718413318082789376

Single- versus Double-Species Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health and Yield in Mississippi Soybean Fields

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