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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #422880
Research Project: Linkages Between Crop Production Management and Sustainability in the Central Mississippi River Basin

Location: Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research

Title: Benefits of conservation management practices on claypan soils

Author
item Veum, Kristen
item KANDANOOL, DIVYA - Orise Fellow
item Baffaut, Claire
item Abendroth, Lori
item Ransom, Curtis
item Schreiner-Mcgraw, Adam
item Sudduth, Kenneth

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/25/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Intensive agronomic production has degraded fragile claypan soils over the past century, leading to negative environmental and agronomic impacts. Conservation management practices, including reduced tillage, increased rotational diversity, cover crops, upland buffers, and perennialization, have been proposed and implemented to reduce and possibly remediate the degradation. The objective of this analysis was to assess the impact of conservation management practices on runoff, water quality, and soil health. The conservation practices listed above have demonstrated soil health and water quality benefits. Specifically, the perennial vegetation in upland buffers produces above- and below-ground biomass that can reduce runoff, dissolved nutrients, and veterinary antibiotics in runoff. Further, adoption of reduced tillage with increased crop rotational diversity and cover crops in annual row crop systems can improve soil health, even after decades of soil degradation.