Abstract
Rationale and Purpose
Adding multispecies cover crop (CC) mixtures could diversify the current simplified crop rotations and enhance soil health more than monoculture CCs. Further, CC mixtures with diverse plant species could adapt better to changing climatic and environmental conditions than monoculture CCs. However, our current understanding of the soil benefits of CC mixtures is still limited. This review discussed whether CC mixtures are better than monoculture CCs to improve soil physical health.
Methods
All studies published up to May 25, 2023 comparing soil physical properties between CC mixtures and their constituents grown as monocultures were searched in the available databases. To avoid potential sampling bias, only studies that compared mixtures against all its constituents grown alone were discussed.
Results
Cover crop mixture studies on soil physical properties were relatively few. Mixtures did not reduce soil bulk density in 83% of cases, penetration resistance in 75%, wet aggregate stability in 67%, and dry aggregate stability and saturated hydraulic conductivity in 100% compared with monoculture CCs. Mixtures had inconsistent effects on water infiltration and plant available water. The number of CC species in the mixture and management duration do not differently affect mixture impacts. The limited or no differences in soil physical properties between mixtures and monocultures could be due to the similarities in CC biomass production and soil C between these two systems.
Conclusion
Cover crop mixtures do not enhance soil physical properties relative to monoculture CCs in most cases. However, the few cases where mixtures outperformed monocultures suggest soil benefits of mixtures should be evaluated on a site-specific basis. More long-term (> 10 yr) data are needed for more definitive conclusions.
Highlight
Cover crop mixtures do not generally improve soil physical health more than monoculture CCs.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
“The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.”
Abbreviations
- CC:
-
Cover crops
References
Acharya P, Ghimire R, Cho Y, Thapa VR, Sainju UM (2022) Soil profile carbon, nitrogen, and crop yields affected by cover crops in semiarid regions. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-022-10198-1
Agarwal P, Lehnhoff EA, Steiner RL, Idowu OJ (2022) Cover Crops Enhance Soil Properties in Arid Agroecosytem despite Limited Irrigation. Agronomy (basel) 12:1235
Antosh E, Idowu J, Schutte B, Lehnhoff E (2020) Winter cover crops effects on soil properties and sweet corn yield in semi-arid irrigated systems. Agron J 112:92–106
Bielenberg H, Clark JD, Sanyal D, Wolthuizen J, Karki D, Rahal A, Bly A (2023) Cover crop composition in longterm no-till soils in semi-arid environments do not influence soil health measurements after one year. Soil Sci Soc Am J. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20523
Blanco-Canqui H, Ruis SJ (2020) Cover crop impacts on soil physical properties: A review. Soil Sci Soc Am J 84:1527–1576
Blanco-Canqui H, Shapiro CA, Wortmann CS, Drijber RA, Mamo MM, Shaver TM, Ferguson RB (2013) Soil organic carbon: The value to soil properties. J Soil Water Conserv 68:129A-134A
Bukovsky-Reyes S, Isaac ME, Blesh J (2019) Effects of intercropping and soil properties on root functional traits of cover crops. Agric Ecosyst Environ 285:106614
Bybee-Finley AK, Cordeau S, Yvoz S, Mirsky SB, Ryan MR (2022) Finding the right mix: a framework for selecting seeding rates for cover crop mixtures. Ecol Appl 32:e02484. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2484
Chahal I, Van Eerd LL (2019) Quantifying soil quality in a horticultural-cover cropping system. Geoderma 352:38–48
Chapagain T, Lee EA, Raizada MN (2020) The potential of multi-species mixtures to diversify cover crop benefits. Sustainability 12:2058
Clay L, Perkins K, Motallebi M, Plastina A, Farmaha BS (2020) The perceived benefits, challenges, and environmental effects of cover crop implementation in South Carolina. Agriculture 10:372
Crossman S (2019) Short-term effects of cover crops on soil health and yield in established no-till systems. MSc Thesis. Kansa State Univ Manhattan, KS
Decker HL, Gamble AV, Balkcom KS, Johnson AM, Hull NR (2022) Cover crop monocultures and mixtures affect soil health indicators and crop yield in the Southeast United States. Soil Sci Soc Amer J 86:1312–1326
Duru M, Therond O, Martin G, Martin-Clouaire R, Magne MA, Justes E, Journet EP, Aubertot JN, Savary S, Bergez JE, Sarthou JP (2015) How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: A review. Agron Sust Devel 35:1259–2128
Duval ME, Galantini JA, Capurro JE, Martinez JM (2016) Winter cover crops in soybean monoculture: effects on soil organic carbon and its fractions. Soil Tillage Res 161:95–105
Fae GS, Sulc RM, Barker DJ, Dick RP, Eastridge ML, Lorenz N (2009) Integrating winter annual forages into a no-till corn silage system. Agron J 101:1286–1296
Finney DM, White CM, Kaye JP (2016) Biomass production and carbon/nitrogen ratio influence ecosystem services from cover crop mixtures. Agron J 108:39–52
Florence AM, McGuire AM (2020) Do diverse cover crop mixtures perform better than monocultures? A systematic review. Agron J 112:3513–3534
Freschet GT, Roumet C, Comas LH, Weemstra M, Bengough AG, Rewald B, Bardgett RD, De Deyn GB, Johnson D, Klimešová J, Lukac M, McCormack ML, Meier IC, Pagès L, Poorter H, Prieto I, Wurzburger N, Zadworny M, Bagniewska-Zadworna A, Blancaflor EB, Brunner I, Gessler A, Hobbie SE, Iversen CM, Mommer L, Picon-Cochard C, Postma JA, Rose L, Ryser P, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Soudzilovskaia NA, Sun T, Valverde-Barrantes OJ, Weigelt A, York LM, Stokes A (2021) Root traits as drivers of plant and ecosystem functioning: current understanding, pitfalls and future research needs. New Phytol 232(3):1123–1158. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17072
Gastine A, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Leadley PW (2003) No consistent effects of plant diversity on root biomass, soil biota and soil abiotic conditions in temperate grassland communities. Applied Soil Ecol 24:101–111
Ghahremani S, Ebadi A, Tobeh A, Hashemi M, Sedghi M, Gholipoouri A, Barker AV (2021) Short-term impact of monocultured and mixed cover crops on soil properties, weed suppression, and lettuce yield. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 52:406–415
Holman JD, Arnet K, Dille J, Maxwell S, Obour A, Roberts T, Roozeboom K, Schlegel A (2018) Can cover or forage crops replace fallow in the semiarid central Great Plains? Crop Sci 58:932–944
Isbell F, Craven D, Connolly J, Loreau M, Schmid B, Beierkuhnlein C, Bezemer TM, Bonin C, Bruelheide H, de Luca E, Ebeling A, Griffin JN, Guo Q, Hautier Y, Hector A, Jentsch A, Kreyling J, Lanta V, Manning P, Meyer ST, Mori AS, Naeem S, Niklaus PA, Polley HW, Reich PB, Roscher C, Seabloom EW, Smith MD, Thakur MP, Tilman D, Tracy BF, van der Putten W, van Ruijeven J, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wilsey B, Eisenhauer N (2015) Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes. Nature 526:574-U263
Jian J, Du X, Reiter MS, Stewart RD (2020) A meta-analysis of global cropland soil carbon changes due to cover cropping. Soil Biol Biochem 143:107735
Kaspar TC, Parkin TB, Jaynes DB, Cambardella CA, Meek DW, Jung YS (2006) Examining changes in soil organic carbon with oat and rye cover crops using terrain covariates. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:1168–1177
Khan QA, McVay KA (2019) Productivity and stability of multi-species cover crop mixtures in the northern Great Plains. Agron J 111:1817–1827
Koehler-Cole K, Elmore RW, Blanco-Canqui H, Francis CA, Shapiro CA, Proctor CA, Ruis SJ, Heeren DM, Irmak S, Ferguson RB (2020) Cover crop productivity and subsequent soybean yield in the western Corn Belt. Agron J 112:2649–2663
Landis DA (2017) Designing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity-based ecosystem services. Basic Appl Ecol 18:1–12
Lehmann J, Bossio DA, Kögel-Knabner I, Rillig MC (2020) The concept and future prospects of soil health. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1:544–553
McClelland SC, Paustian K, Schipanksi ME (2021) Management of cover crops in temperate climates influences soil organic carbon stocks - a meta-analysis. Ecol Appl 31:e02278
Murrell EG, Schipanski ME, Finney DM, Hunter MC, Burgess M, LaChance JC, Baraibar B, White CM, Mortensen DA, Kaye JP (2017) Achieving diverse cover crop mixtures: effects of planting date and seeding rate. Agron J 109:259–271
Nielsen DC, Lyon DJ, Hergert GW, Higgins RK, Calderon FJ, Vigil MF (2015) Cover crop mixtures do not use water differently than single-species plantings. Agron J 107:1025–1038
Poeplau C, Don A (2015) Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils via cultivation of cover crops – A meta-analysis. Agric Ecosys Environ 220:33–41
Saleem M, Pervaiz ZH, Contreras J, Lindenberger JH, Hupp BM, Chen D, Zhang Q, Wang C, Twigg P (2020) Cover crop diversity improves multiple soil properties via altering root architectural traits. Rhizosphere 16:100248
Schipanski ME, Barbercheck ME, Douglas MR, Finney DM, Haider K, Kaye JP, Kemanian AR, Mortensen DA, Ryan MR, Tooker J, White C (2014) A framework for evaluating ecosystem services provided by cover crops in agroecosystems. Agric Syst 125:12–22
Smith RG, Atwood LW, Warren ND (2014) Increased productivity of a cover crop mixture is not associated with enhanced agroecosystem services. PLoS One 9:e97351
Stavi I, Lal R, Jones S, Reeder R (2012) Implications of cover crops for soil quality and geodiversity in a humid-temperate region in the Midwestern USA. Land Degrad Dev 23:322–330
Tamburini G, Bommarco R, Wanger TC, Kremen C, van der Heijden MGA, Liebman M, Hallin S (2020) Agricultural diversification promotes multiple ecosystem services without compromising yield. Sci Adv 6:eaba1715
Tilman D (1999) The ecological consequences of changes in biodiversity: A search for general principles. Ecology 80:1455–1474
Unger PW, Vigil MF (1998) Cover crop effects on soil water relationships. J Soil Water Conserv 53:200–207
van Bruggen AHC, Goss EM, Havelaar A, van Diepeningen AD, Finckh MR, Morris JG (2019) One Health - Cycling of diverse microbial communities as a connecting force for soil, plant, animal, human and ecosystem health. Sci Total Environ 664:927–937
Villamil MB, Bollero GA, Darmody RG, Simmons FW, Bullock DG (2006) No-till corn/soybean systems including winter cover crops: Effects on soil properties. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:1936–1944
Waring E, Licht M, Ripley E, Staudt A, Carlson S, Helmers M (2023) Cover crop mixtures versus single species Water quality and cash crop yield. J Soil Water Conserv 78:1–15
Wood M, Litterick AM, Goss M (2017) Soil health – What should the doctor order? Soil Use Manag 33:339–345
Xu H, Vandecasteele B, De Neve S, Boeckx P, Sleutel S (2021) Contribution of above- versus belowground C inputs of maize to soil organic carbon: Conclusions from a 13C/12C-resolved resampling campaign of Belgian croplands after two decades. Geoderma 383:114727
Yu Y, Loiskandl W, Kaul HP, Himmelbauer M, Wei W, Chen L, Bodner G (2016) Estimation of runoff mitigation by morphologically different cover crop root systems. J Hydrology 538:667–676
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
This is a single authored paper. The whole manuscript was written by Humberto Blanco.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
“The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.”
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Huadong Zang
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Blanco-Canqui, H. Do cover crop mixtures improve soil physical health more than monocultures?. Plant Soil 495, 99–112 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06086-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06086-4