Arable
Black Oat & Radisn
White Mustard
OR
Phacelia
No cover crop / conventional plough
Cover crop + min tillage
Effect on crop
Soil Organic Matter
?
Potential Pathogens
Possible beneficial microorganisms
Widest possible range To do just this, Agrii and CEH have extended their study to include around 400 fields across the south of the country from this season to explore the extent to which the patterns identified at Stow Longa are replicated under the widest possible range of cultivation regimes, soil types, rotations and climatic conditions. By marrying detailed information from field records, Rhiza soil analyses, hyper-local weather statistics and crop yields with organic matter analysis and microbial DNA characterisation,
Straw rake + natural fallow
Karat (shallow)
That’s why we need to build a much better understanding of the key components of the microbiome and how they respond to soil management practices.”
Karat (deep)
Reduced tillage – no cover crop
…from previous page
Bradyrhizobium
N fixing
Verrucomicrobia
N fixing
Metarhizium
Takeall decline
Phytomyxea
Club root
Plasmodiophora
Cabbage club root
Pythium A, B & C
Root rot – beneficial subspecies?
Pythium D
Figure 2: Changes in microbial populations under different regimes at Stow Longa. Key: Arrows indicate direction of change with number of arrows indicating magnitude of differences.
they aim to develop an industry-leading database of soil biology interactions to support science-based improvement efforts. “With the widest dataset, we can begin to build a reliable model to help growers and industry advisers plan their soil management for the most costeffective results,” suggested Professor Pywell. “At the same time, we can drill down deeper into the microbiology of the most promising sites to identify what
really sets them apart from the rest and why. “We are at the start of what we believe will be a step-change in our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning soil health; the sort of change that will be essential if we are to reliably improve the functioning of our most important farming and environmental resource, let alone achieve the ‘cleaner, carbon-neutral farming’ that has to be our ultimate aim.” FG
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14 www.farmersguide.co.uk June 2020
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18/05/2020 13:00