5 - Soil Health (Guest Speaker) Flashcards
Why should we build soil resistance?
- Absorb precipitation and hold moisture
- Allow for improved crop growth
- Resist surface crusting and erosion
What are the 5 principles of Soil Health?
- Integrate Livestock
- Keep Soil Covered
- Keep living Roots/Plants in the Soil
- Maintain Plant Diversity
- Minimize Soil Disturbance
Leaving crop residue on soil surface helps protect from what five things?
- Erosion
- Evaporation
- Heating
- Surface Crusting
- Weed Growth
What are the 3 main ways of minimizing Soil Disturbance?
- Building SOM to improve structure
- Reducing tillage
- Use of Rotational grazing management
Tillage Erosion makes soil more susceptible to ________ and _________ erosion, ___________, and decreases ______________.
wind, water, crusting, infiltration rates
Tillage increases rate of _______________ loss.
Organic Matter
Soil Structure has a major influence on four points, what are they?
- Biological Activity
- Root Growth
- Seedling Emergence
- Water Movement
Soil Aggregation decreases the risk of erosion and is the #1 natural defence against __________________.
compaction
What are Root Channels also known as?
Biopores
How does tillage influence soil structure?
Tillage breaks up the path of root channels made by previous crops.
Tillage __________ large soil pores created by roots.
shears off
Heavily compacted areas can have increased ______________ problems.
salinity
True or False: Tillage can cause soil compaction.
True
What do heavy clay soils rely on?
Structure, for water movement
In the 1870 Wadsworth Wagon Trail, there was a ______% reduction in air and water permeability, and a ____% increase in bulk density.
50% and 10%
Plant Diversity has what two major positive influences?
- Maintaining a diverse crop rotation
- Introducing intercrops in the rotation
What does a diverse crop rotation involves?
Rotating between root systems, residue amount, water usage, and legume / non-legumes.
Maintaining living Plants / Roots have what two major influences on soil health?
- Add perennial forages into annual rotations
- Cover crops to extend growing season
How does perennial forages into annual rotations maintain living plants / roots?
- Eliminates tillage during forage years
- Perennial legumes can provide N to future annual crops
How do cover crops maintain living plants/roots?
- Decrease susceptibility to compaction
- Improve soil structure
- Provide fall cover to decrease erosion
- Target saline areas
- Use up extra water in the fall
Cover Crops provide soil erosion protection in fall, does the benefit outweigh the risk?
May become especially important as Manitoba increases our acreage of low residue crops, such as soybeans and peas.
In what four ways does Livestock Integration improve soil health?
- Grazing crop residue
- Manage weed pressure
- Recycle nutrients through manure deposition
- Reduce nutrient export from fields
SOM and Aggregate Stability are influence by which three topics?
- Biological
- Chemical
- Physical
Soil Health testing compares between similar ____________
soil types
What can Traditional Soil Testings tell you?
- Nutrient Supply
- SOM
- Salinity
- pH
The Soil Health Institute Endorsement targets what two key processes?
- Carbon Mineralization
- Nitrogen Mineralization
A good Soil Health Testing needs to _________________ and be ______________.
identify treatment differences, stable over time
Other methods of soil health testing (in field) can involve:
- Counting earthworms
- Observing Soil Structure
- Smelling the soil
