Thesis
REDUCING SOIL COMPACTION WITH SUMMER COVER CROPS
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006949
Abstract
Soil compaction is commonly understood to be a serious and widespread concern for agricultural production and environmental health. Addressing compaction with an
alternative superior to subsoiling, particularly an alternative like cover crops that generate many co-benefits, could benefit agricultural producers and improve soil health. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of different cover crops at remediating soil compaction and to identify best management practices (specifically, irrigation and planting dates) for utilizing cover crops. The experiment evaluated the performance of three cover crops (tillage radish, fava bean, and sudangrass) with two distinct root systems (taproots and fibrous roots) planted on two different dates and grown with and without irrigation in Pierce County, WA. The Pacific Northwest maritime climate is generally cool but with warm, dry summers; soil texture ranged from loamy sand to silt loam.
The results indicate that there was no significant effect from the cover crop, planting date, and irrigation treatments on bulk density, penetration resistance, or saturated
hydraulic conductivity after a single year of crop growth, and that detectable remediation of compaction with cover crops likely takes longer than one year.
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Details
- Title
- REDUCING SOIL COMPACTION WITH SUMMER COVER CROPS
- Creators
- Justin Andrew Maltry
- Contributors
- Douglas P. Collins (Chair)Anand D. Jayakaran (Committee Member)Gabriel T. LaHue (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 119
- Identifiers
- 99901124820401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis