Evaluating the Impacts of Tillage Systems and Cover Crops on Soil Quality.

Understanding the benefits of no till systems and cover crops and their impact on soil productivity can help improve crop yield and increase profitability. The objective of this research was to determine the changes of soil quality indicators as affected by different tillage systems and common cover crops planted during the winter. This study was conducted in Calloway County Western Kentucky in fall 2018. Two tillage systems was compared, no till and conventional tillage systems. No tillage systems contained samples from cereal rye, wheat, a combination of radish and oats, and a control that experienced no cover crop. Conventional tillage systems had samples from cereal rye, wheat, a combination of radish and oats, and a control that experienced no cover crop. Two different depth intervals were used from each field, 0-10 cm and 0-20 cm. Soil samples were analyzed for soil organic matter (SOM), macroaggregates, C in macroaggregates, particulate organic matter C (POM-C), and soil pH. The results showed that no tillage systems with cover crops provided higher soil organic matter and macroaggregates, POM-C and C in macroaggregates, but the magnitudes among the cover crops were different. More acidity was found in no tillage systems. Aggregate stability was also found greater in the cover crop treatments. The findings indicate that cover crops combined with no till systems have contributed to improve soil quality, thus increase the ability of soil to sequester C.