Soil health indicators respond to management practices on commercial farms

Authors: Osterholz, William; King, Kevin; KALCIC, MARGARET - University Of Wisconsin; SHEDEKAR, VINAYAK - The Ohio State University

Submitted to: Geoderma
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2026
Publication Date: 1/14/2026
Citation: Osterholz, W.R., King, K.W., Kalcic, M., Shedekar, V. 2026. Soil health indicators respond to management practices on commercial farms. Geoderma. 466. Article 117674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117674.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117674

Interpretive Summary: Soil is the cornerstone for crop production; however, typical crop production practices often lead to degradation of important soil properties that are essential for enhanced production. Soil health is the recognition that soil is a finite, living system that requires specific beneficial farming practices to maintain its function. Many crop farmers use practices like reduced intensity tillage, crop rotations, cover crops, and manure application in order to improve soil health. However, the effectiveness of each of these practices for enhancing soil health remains uncertain, preventing informed management decisions by farmers. In this study we assessed how strongly six measurements of soil health responded to four different types of management across 50 crop fields in Ohio and Indiana. We found that manure application had the most consistent positive effect on the measurements of soil health. Reduced intensity tillage was effective for improving several but not all of the soil health measurements. In contrast, a greater frequency of living crop cover in the winter was not strongly related to soil health, nor was the total number of different crop species grown. Further analysis showed that using 3 years of management information provided similar results to using 5 years, suggesting that effects of management practices were consistent over the short- and medium-term timeframes. The study highlights that farmers with the goal of improving soil health should strongly consider including manure applications as well as reduced tillage intensity, while living crop cover and crop species diversity should not be expected to result in improved soil health in the short-term.

Technical Abstract: Soil health is an objective of management practices including reduced tillage intensity, manure application, crop rotation, and cover crops. However, the relative effectiveness of these practices for promoting healthier soil remains uncertain. We assessed the responses of six soil health indicators (soil organic matter, soil respiration, permanganate oxidizable C (POX-C), soil protein, mean weight diameter of water stable aggregates, and bulk density) to four management practices (manure application, reduced tillage, living cover in fall and spring, and crop diversity) across 50 commercial crop fields in Ohio and Indiana, USA. Simple linear regression, multiple linear regression and random forest analyses largely identified similar relationships between soil health and management practices. Manure application rate was consistently and positively associated with greater soil health values, although the relationship with bulk density was weak. Reduced tillage intensity was associated with greater protein and respiration, but decreased POX-C. Living cover and crop diversity each had limited relationships with the soil health indicators. Soil texture was an important factor driving variability in most soil health indicators. Reducing the management period from 5 yr to 3 yr tended to reduce the predictive ability of the models, but with limited exceptions similar relationships between management and soil health were identifiable. The depth of measurement of soil health indicators changed the interpretation of management-soil health relationships in only one instance (POX-C vs. reduced tillage intensity). Overall, manure application was the most effective practice for improving soil health, with reduced tillage intensity also effective for improving several soil health indicators.