USING WINTER COVER CROPS TO IMPROVE SOIL AND WATER QUALITY

Abstract

This article reviews literature about the impacts of cover crops in cropping systems that affect soil and water quality and presents limited new information to help fill knowledge,gaps. Cover crops grow,during periods when,the soil might otherwise be fallow. While actively growing, cover crops increase solar energy harvest and carbon flux into the soil, providing food for soil macro and microrganisms, while simultaneously increasing evapotranspira- tion from the soil. Cover crops reduce sediment production from cropland by intercepting the kinetic energy of rainfall and by re- ducing the amount and velocity of runoff. Cover crops increase soil quality by improving biological, chemical and physical properties including: organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, ag- gregate stability, and water infiltrability. Legume cover crops con- tribute a nitrogen (N) to subsequent crops. Other cover crops, es- pecially grasses and brassicas, are better at scavenging residual N 1221