Cropping systems with perennial vegetation and livestock integration promote soil health

Abstract

Soil health can differ across cropping systems because of variation in edaphic and management factors. We evaluated how biological indicators of soil health (soil organic matter [SOM], permanganate oxidizable carbon [POXC], mineralizable carbon [MinC], autoclaved-citrate-extractable [ACE] protein, and potentially mineralizable nitrogen [PMN]) compared across four common Wisconsin cropping systems: grazed cool-season pastures, forage-based rotations that included perennial legumes or grasses, annual rotations receiving manure, and annual rotations receiving synthetic fertilizers. Biological indicators of soil health were up to 195% greater in pastures than other cropping systems. MinC, POXC and PMN were 10%-90% greater in forage-based rotations than annual cropping systems, but only MinC and POXC were greater in annual systems with manure compared to those without manure by 35% and 7%, respectively. Perennial vegetation and livestock integration offer the greatest potential to increase biological indicators of soil health in agricultural lands.

A data‐driven topsoil classification framework to support soil health assessment in Minnesota

“…While none of our grouping variables explained more than 3% of Cmin variance when considering both agricultural and perennially vegetated sites together (Table 5), we found that considering agricultural soils alone resulted in the grouping variables explaining up to 73% of the observed variance (Table S2). This highlights land use as an important factor driving Cmin in our dataset and is consistent with previous studies that have observed large differences in Cmin when comparing annual agricultural systems with more perennial systems such as pastures (Augarten et al., 2023). In addition, others have found Cmin to be sensitive to soil conditions such as antecedent soil moisture, soil temperature, and vegetation; these are all factors which are expected to differ between agricultural and perennially vegetated sites (Belanger et al., 2021; Das et al., 2019; Martin & Sprunger, 2022).…”

Soil amendment with biochar and manure alters wood stake decomposition and fungal community composition

“…In addition, biochar can enhance soil health (Gundale et al, 2016) by improving soil microbiome structure and function (Bahram et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2020), thus resulting in increased underground C cycling and above‐ground productivity. Organic fertilizer amendment (e.g., manure and composts) is one of the most effective measures for sustainable land management, both in agriculture and forestry (Reardon, 2014; Williams, 1942; Yang et al, 2022), and its role in improving soil quality (e.g., physicochemical properties, structure, and microbiome functions), replenishing SOM loss, and minimizing land degradation has been well accepted (Augarten et al, 2023; Jin et al, 2022; Li et al, 2023).…”

Distinct soil health indicators are associated with variation in maize yield and tile drain nitrate losses

“…Permanganate‐oxidizable carbon (POXC) was measured by quantifying absorbance at 550 nm with a spectrophotometer after subjecting duplicate 2.5 g soil to 2 min shaking (120 rpm) in 20 mL of 0.02 M KMnO 4 solution (pH 7.2) followed by a 10 min rest period (Culman et al., 2012; Weil et al., 2003). Here, we consider POXC a chemical SHI, though some have variously classified it as biological given its interpretation as labile C (e.g., Augarten et al., 2023; Martin et al., 2022) despite recent evidence that POXC does not represent labile C (Woodings & Margenot, 2023).…”