Cover crops for soil health

Publication date: 10/10/2022
Extent: 42 pages

Contributions by: Sieglinde S. Snapp, Michigan State University, USA; Carmen M. Ugarte, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Dane W. Hunter, Southern Illinois University, USA; and Michelle M. Wander, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Chapter synopsis: Cover crops are accessory plants integrated in production agriculture as means to enhance organic inputs and diversification, both above and belowground. The living cover provides a bundle of environmental services including soil conservation and healthy function. This chapter reviews the literature in terms of cropping system regional niches for incorporation of cover crops, and the consequences for soil health. This includes impacts on soil organic matter, water balance, nutrient and disease regulation, physical aggregation, crop yield and economics. A better understanding of the biophysical processes that cover crops influence is starting to emerge in the literature, and is reported on, with a number of research gaps identified. Cropping systems windows that are short and marginal in quality, severally restrict cover crop growth and associated benefits. The potential for positive soil health benefits through cover cropping is high, in the complexity of real-world agricultural systems, and variable soil responses.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2021.0094.11