MEASURING AND MANAGING WHAT MATTERS FOR COVER CROP CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOIL CARBON CYCLES

The long-term applied goal of this project is to increase cover crop contributions to SOM through the application of simple agronomic management levers informed by plant and soil microbial ecology. These management levers include time (growth period), sowing density, and sowing proportion of grass and legume cover crops. The long-term scientific goal is to deepen our understanding of the relationships between plant and microbial drivers of C inputs and losses in agricultural soils.The specific objectives of this research are: Objective 1: Determine the extent to which cover crop management levers alter total biomass, belowground biomass allocation, and biomass quality.Objective 2: Determine the nature and extent to which cover crops shift microbial community composition and carbon use efficiency.Objective 3: Quantify the combined effects of cover crop and microbial drivers on SOM status.