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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Agroecosystem Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #407607
Research Project: Evaluating Management Strategies to Increase Agroecosystem Productivity, Resilience, and Viability

Location: Agroecosystem Management Research

Title: Connections between roots and soil health across agriculture management practices

Author
item MOORE, E - University Of North Carolina-Wilmington
item DE, MRIGANKA - Minnesota State University
item NUNES, MARCIO - University Of Florida
item SAHA, DEBASISH - University Of Tennessee
item Jin, Virginia
item LI, LIDONG - Colorado State University
item Johnson, Jane
item Karlen, Douglas
item MCDANIEL, MARSHALL - Iowa State University

Submitted to: Plant and Soil
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/9/2025
Publication Date: 3/19/2025
Citation: Moore, E.B., De, M., Nunes, M.R., Saha, D., Jin, V.L., Li, L., Johnson, J.M., Karlen, D.L., McDaniel, M.D. 2025. Connections between roots and soil health across agriculture management practices. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07367-w.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07367-w

Interpretive Summary: Centuries of soil-degrading practices have diminished agricultural soil health. Using perennial vegetation is a key soil health regenerating practice (SHRP) to restore soil function in degraded agricultural soils. The living and dead roots of perennial grasses play an important role in improving soil health, but roots are difficult to measure. It is also not clear how hillslope position affects the role of plant roots in soil health. Here, we show that pasture and restored grassland soils had 54% and 41% improved soil health, respectively, compared to soils under annual row-cropping (corn or soybean). Total root mass, especially fine roots, led to improvements in soil health regardless of hillslope position. This study supports general findings that planting perennial grasses for both grazing and for restoring environmentally sensitive agricultural lands can effectively improve soil health.

Technical Abstract: Background and Aims: Farmers are increasingly interested in regenerating soil health after centuries of soil-degrading practices. The most effective land use practices, however, along with the underlying mechanisms that regenerate soil health, remain unclear. The objectives of this study were to determine: (i) how land use and hillslope position, and their interaction, affect soil health and root characteristics, and (ii) any relationship between soil health and roots across both a land-use gradient and two hillslope positions. Methods: We sampled soil and roots – to 120 cm depth – under three land uses: conventional maize-soybean rotation (Row Crop), cattle-grazed pasture (Pasture), and restored grassland (Grassland). First, we measured several soil health indicators (SHIs): soil organic carbon, potentially mineralizable carbon, total nitrogen, permanganate oxidizable carbon, beta-glucosidase activity, and autoclaved citrate extractable protein. Second, we measured root mass, root mean diameter (RMD), and root length density (RLD). Results: Pasture and Grassland increased SHIs by an average of 54% and 41%, respectively, when compared to Row Crop. Pasture and Grassland also doubled root mass compared to Row Crop systems. Pasture had the greatest proportion of very fine roots (<0.2 mm RMD), while Row Crop had the lowest proportion of very fine roots. Individual biological SHIs best correlated negatively with RMD and positively with RLD, and overall soil health was best predicted by RLD. Conclusion: SHRPs that increase total root mass, and fine roots in particular, can lead to vast improvements in soil health and in our case were largely independent of hillslope position.