Soil health is an important concept that has grown exponentially in the public and private sectors over the past decades. Soil health is defined as the capacity of soil to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain and enhance soil and water quality, and support human health and wildlife habitat. Because several physical, chemical, and biological indicators exist within the concept of soil health, assessments and interpretations are complex. Additionally, the added expense of soil testing can prevent some growers from bothering to test at all. Growers who manage to test often go for basic soil test packages offered by soil-testing laboratories. These basic soil health packages mostly include soil pH, organic matter, available P, exchangeable Mg, K, Ca, and cation exchange capacity. A key indicator commonly not tested is microbial community. The soil microbial community plays critical roles, including nutrient cycling, carbon mineralization, and biological nitrogen fixation. Examples of some important groups of soil microbes and their functions are:
- Bacteria: Supply of plant nutrients, plant growth stimulation, plant pathogens inhibition, soil structure improvement
- Fungi: Organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, soil structure formation
- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi): Plant nutrition improvement, environmental stress tolerance and resistance, soil structure formation Actinomycetes: Nitrogen fixation, organic matter decomposition, phosphate solubilization
- Eukaryotes: Organic matter decomposition, soil structure formation, nutrient cycling
The soil microbial community is influenced by soil texture, vegetation cover, climate, and soil-crop management practices. In Michigan, regional differences among soil microbial communities are likely due to the large variability in cropping systems and weather conditions.
This report aims to:
- Highlight differences in soil microbial community structure across key production regions in Michigan.
- Describe how soil texture, tillage, and crop diversity affect the soil microbial community.
Overall, findings from this report will assist growers in adopting soil-crop management practices that promote soil health.
Methods
Soil sampling occurred fall 2019 through spring 2021. Seventy-four fields were sampled in fall 2019, 65 in spring 2020, 86 in fall 2020, and 85 in spring 2021, resulting in 310 samples. The samples came from 29 counties across Michigan (Figure 1).
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Categories: Michigan, Crops