Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #405152
Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Improving soil sater storage with no-till cover cropping in the Mississippi River Alluvial Basin

Author
item DHAKAL, MADHAV - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item LOCKE, MARTIN - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item REDDY, KRISHNA - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Moore, Matthew
item Steinriede, Robert
item KRUTZ, LARRY - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2024
Publication Date: 2/24/2024
Citation: Dhakal, M., Locke, M.A., Reddy, K.N., Moore, M.T., Steinriede Jr, R.W., Krutz, L.J. 2024. Improving soil sater storage with no-till cover cropping in the Mississippi River Alluvial Basin. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20638.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20638

Interpretive Summary: Current agricultural practices such as intensive tillage can have negative environmental impacts, including water runoff and reduced soil water storage for crop use. ARS scientists at the National Sedimentation Laboratory, Oxford, Mississippi, conducted a field trial to evaluate effects of tillage and Austrian pea cover crop on soil water content in sorghum and cotton cropping systems. Sensors were used to measure soil water content to a 1.2-m soil depth during two cover crop growing seasons (2019-2021). Runoff and crop water use were estimated using a simulation model and soil water balance equation. Results showed that no-tillage could increase soil water storage and reduce surface runoff by nearly 25% over conventional tillage, resulting in increased crop water use by 17%. In both years, cover crop did not affect soil water storage and runoff but increased biomass yield that no cover crop treatment. Our study suggested that inclusion of no-tillage in the current cropping system is an important factor to conserve water and reduce irrigation draft in the Lower Mississippi River Basin.

Technical Abstract: Excessive tillage reduces the water holding capacity of row-crop producing soils. This study was conducted to determine whether soil-water dynamics could be manipulated through conservation production systems that affect surface residue management. The effects of tillage [conventional tillage (CT) vs. no-tillage (NT)] and cover crop [no-cover (NC) and CC (Austrian pea, Pisum sativum L.)] on the soil water balance during CC season in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cropping systems were modeled using RZWQM2 for a site near Stoneville, MS on ‘Commerce’ silty-loam soil. Capacitance sensors were used to measure soil volumetric water content to 120 cm during cover crop growth in 2019 and 2020. Field calibration of sensors reduced RMSE from 0.05 to 0.03 m3m–3. Pooled across years, cover crop seasons, NT increased VWC in the 0-40 and 40-120 soil layers by 8.5 and 6.8%, respectively, compared to CT. Regardless of the cover crop treatment and cropping system, NT reduced surface runoff by 24.5% over its conventional counterpart, while soil water storage increased from 2.35 to 5.23 cm within the 1.2 m profile, resulting in increased consumptive use of water (evapotranspiration) by 17%. Cover crop treatments had no impact on soil water storage and consumptive use of water. No-tillage system can affect water dynamics by increasing infiltration and soil water storage in the humid subtropical region of the U.S.