Monday, November 13, 2006
105-7

Interaction between Winter Cover Crop and Tillage System Effects on Soil Organic Carbon and Soil Biological Diversities.

Masakazu Komatsuzaki1, Yunghi Mu2, Zhaorui Getu2, Rika Kusumoto3, Hiroyuki Ohta3, Masaaki Araki4, Hajime Araki5, and Satoshi Hirata5. (1) Ibaraki University, 320-1 Asahi-Cho Tomobe-Machi, Nishiibaraki-Gun, Ibaraki, 309-1717, JAPAN, (2) Tokyo Univ of Agriculture & Technology, Inashiki Gun, Ami 3-21-1, Ibaraki, 300-0393, Japan, (3) Ibaraki Univ, Nishiibaraki-Gun, Ibaraki, 309-1717, Japan, (4) National Institute for Agr-Environment Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604, Japan, (5) Field Center for Northern Biosphere, Kita 11 Nishi 10, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 060-0811, Japan

Winter cover crops may increase soil organic matter and improve soil biological diversities and activities in intensively managed summer field cropping system in Japan. We examined the influence of three cover crop treatment (fallow, rye , and hairy vetch within a field rice cultivation ) and three tillage treatments ( no-till, plow and rototiller) on soil biological diversities (bacteria, fungus, nematode, macro- and micro fauna ) and soil organic carbon changes for 4 years. Cover cropping did significantly influence soil organic carbon contents. Soil macro-fauna diversities, however, were significantly changed by tillage system. Soil macro-fauna diversities were higher in no-till treatments than in other tillage systems, although a little difference was occurred for meso-fauna between tillage systems and cover  crop types. Across the cover crop treatment, the population of nematode was lower for plow than No-till and Rotary tillage system.  Across the tillage system, that was the highest for hairy vetch in Spring ,although, there were no significant differences between cover crop treatments in Winter. 36 nematode species were observed in this study,however, 20-27 species were observed for each treatment. Some species were distributed in particular treatment plot. The index of nematode diversity was higher in rye than in other cover crop types in December 2004. A combined with tillage system and cover cropping approach to community and agricultural ecosystem ecology is enhancing our understanding of the regulation and functional significance of soil biodiversity, and of the establishing a healthy soil condition. These results will be helpful for understanding the relationship between farming practices and soil ecological diversities.

Handout (.pdf format, 156.0 kb)

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