Cover Crops and Soil Health in Missouri.

Cover cropping effects on soil health are based on measurements of key soil quality indicators (aggregate stability, soil organic C, soil enzyme activity, soil microbial diversity) Evaluation of soil biological processes were conducted in various management settings including living cover crops where rhizosphere environment greatly affects processes including microbial function and soil C inputs; and cover crops combined with other sustainable management practices including organic amendment, no-tillage, and supplemental biological agents. As cover cropping continues to become a management component in conventional cropping with commodity grain and bioenergy crop systems, impacts on soil microbial activity need documentation. Assessment of soil health using the soil management assessment framework (SMAF) yields an index for each indicator (soil organic C, bulk density, etc.) and an overall soil health index for each management system. A suite of soil biological indicators (soil enzyme activities, water-stable aggregation, soil microbial biomass, soil microbial community structure [bacterial, fungal, protozoa groups]) provide critical information regarding the biological status of soil under various management including integration of cover crops into the overall cropping systems. Information on soil health will show the importance of cover crops in improving soil health and in sustaining crop productivity and environmental quality.