Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Multi-species cover crops in the northern Great Plains : an ecological persepctive on biodiversity and soil health(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2016) Housman, Megan Leigh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Catherine A. Zabinski; Susan M. Tallman, Clain A. Jones, Perry R. Miller and Catherine Zabinski were co-authors of the article, 'Soil water, soil nitrate, and residue quanity associated with cover crop mixtures in the northern Great Plains' submitted to the journal 'Agriculture, ecosystems, and environment' which is contained within this thesis.; Susan M. Tallman, Clain A. Jones, Perry R. Miller and Catherine Zabinski were co-authors of the article, 'Multi-species cover crops: effects on soil biology after one and two rotations in the semi-arid northern Great Plains' submitted to the journal 'Soil biology and biochemistry' which is contained within this thesis.As summer fallow is replaced by cover crops, we aim to address how cover crops influence soil properties. Past studies conducted across the Northern Great Plains have investigated the short- and long- term effects of LGMs on water, nitrate, and carbon storage, soil parameters including potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) and enzymatic activity, and wheat yield. Less knowledge exists regarding similar short- and especially long-term effects of CCMs in the NGP. This four-year study replicated at four sites in Montana allows us to investigate how site characteristics and annual weather patterns can influence the performance of cover crop growth and the subsequent effect on soil quality. Our research approach to building cover crop mixtures using functional group composition rather than species composition aims to make the work more broadly applicable to other regions. Other regions may utilize more adapted legume or brassica species and could still use our results to estimate their effects on soil and nitrate use throughout the soil profile or their effects on soil biological parameters.