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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #424644
Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Spatiotemporal changes in soil chemical properties when cover crops are integrated into raised, stale seedbed corn production systems

Author
item SPENCER, DAVID - Mississippi State University
item GHOLSON, DREW - Mississippi State University
item Locke, Martin
item BRYANT, COREY - Mississippi State University
item HENRY, BRIEN - Mississippi State University
item GOLDEN, BOBBY - Jr Simplot Company

Submitted to: Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/2026
Publication Date: 3/27/2026
Citation: Spencer, D.G., Gholson, D.M., Locke, M.A., Bryant, C.J., Henry, B.W., Golden, B.R. 2026. Spatiotemporal changes in soil chemical properties when cover crops are integrated into raised, stale seedbed corn production systems. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment. 9:e70346. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70346.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70346

Interpretive Summary: Management practices common to commercial row crop production contribute to degraded soils. Seeding cover crops in the non-cash-crop season may improve soil quality. We investigated if seeding cover crops affected soil chemical properties either throughout the soil profile or after years of use. Cover crops can improve multiple soil quality parameters when incorporated into production systems in the midsouthern USA. However, the observed increases are moderate and may not be accumulative over time.

Technical Abstract: Commercial row crop production in the midsouthern USA is characterized by extensive application of inorganic soil inputs and management practices that contribute to degraded soil quality. This study was conducted to determine if cover crops affect spatial or temporal changes in soil chemical properties in a raised, stale seedbed tillage system common to the midsouthern USA. The effects of cover crop, depth in soil profile, and time on soil organic matter, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus content and distribution in a corn [Zea mays (L.)] production system were investigated at Stoneville, MS on a Commerce very fine sandy loam (a fine-silty, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquept). All cover crops increased soil organic matter content 6 to 12% relative to the no cover crop system. Except for tillage radish, seeding a cover crop increased total N and total C content up to 12% throughout the soil profile. Conversely, grass and brassica cover crops decreased Mehlich-3 extractable P 18% at 15 to 30 cm deep in the soil profile, but did not differ from winter fallow above 15 cm. Cover crop did not interact with either year under cover crop or sampling time (spring or fall) to affect any measured parameter. Cover crops appear to increase soil N and C stocks through the addition of organic matter and influence of P distribution throughout the soil profile; however, the lack of an interaction with time indicates that cover crop effects dissipate quickly in the production systems of the humid subtropical midsouthern USA.