IMPACT4SOIL OpenAire Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) UnpayWall Crossref Microsoft Academic Graph Europe PubMed Central PubMed Central Global Change Biology Open Access 2019-04-07 Abstract<p>Cover crops play an increasingly important role in improving soil quality, reducing agricultural inputs and improving environmental sustainability. The main objectives of this critical global review and systematic analysis were to assess cover crop practices in the context of their impacts on nitrogen leaching, net greenhouse gas balances (NGHGB) and crop productivity. Only studies that investigated the impacts of cover crops and measured one or a combination of nitrogen leaching, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrous oxide (N2O), grain yield and nitrogen in grain of primary crop, and had a control treatment were included in the analysis. Long￢ﾀﾐterm studies were uncommon, with most data coming from studies lasting 2￢ﾀﾓ3ￂﾠyears. The literature search resulted in 106 studies carried out at 372 sites and covering different countries, climatic zones and management. Our analysis demonstrates that cover crops significantly (pￂﾠ&lt;ￂﾠ0.001) decreased N leaching and significantly (pￂﾠ&lt;ￂﾠ0.001) increased SOC sequestration without having significant (pￂﾠ&gt;ￂﾠ0.05) effects on direct N2O emissions. Cover crops could mitigate the NGHGB by 2.06ￂﾠￂﾱￂﾠ2.10ￂﾠMg CO2￢ﾀﾐeqￂﾠha￢ﾈﾒ1ￂﾠyear￢ﾈﾒ1. One of the potential disadvantages of cover crops identified was the reduction in grain yield of the primary crop by ￢ﾉﾈ4%, compared to the control treatment. This drawback could be avoided by selecting mixed cover crops with a range of legumes and non￢ﾀﾐlegumes, which increased the yield by ￢ﾉﾈ13%. These advantages of cover crops justify their widespread adoption. However, management practices in relation to cover crops will need to be adapted to specific soil, management and regional climatic conditions.</p> Crops, Agricultural net greenhouse gas balance 330 Supplementary Data Nitrogen QH301 Biology Supplementary data available 12. Responsible consumption Nitrous oxide emissions QH301 Greenhouse Gases Soil N content nitrate C sequestration N leaching Environmental Chemistry General Environmental Science NE/M019691/1 2. Zero hunger Global and Planetary Change Catch crop Ecology Soil organic carbon green manure Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Research Review Agriculture 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences 15. Life on land yield Crop Production 13. Climate action N in grain Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Cover crop 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries BB/N013484/1 BB/N013468/1 Mohamed Abdalla, Astley Hastings, Kun Cheng, Qian Yue, Dave Chadwick, Mikk Espenberg, Jaak Truu, Robert M. Rees, Pete Smith, 2019-05-13 journalpaper Abstract<p>Cover crops play an increasingly important role in improving soil quality, reducing agricultural inputs and improving environmental sustainability. The main objectives of this critical global review and systematic analysis were to assess cover crop practices in the context of their impacts on nitrogen leaching, net greenhouse gas balances (NGHGB) and crop productivity. Only studies that investigated the impacts of cover crops and measured one or a combination of nitrogen leaching, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrous oxide (N2O), grain yield and nitrogen in grain of primary crop, and had a control treatment were included in the analysis. Long￢ﾀﾐterm studies were uncommon, with most data coming from studies lasting 2￢ﾀﾓ3ￂﾠyears. The literature search resulted in 106 studies carried out at 372 sites and covering different countries, climatic zones and management. Our analysis demonstrates that cover crops significantly (pￂﾠ&lt;ￂﾠ0.001) decreased N leaching and significantly (pￂﾠ&lt;ￂﾠ0.001) increased SOC sequestration without having significant (pￂﾠ&gt;ￂﾠ0.05) effects on direct N2O emissions. Cover crops could mitigate the NGHGB by 2.06ￂﾠￂﾱￂﾠ2.10ￂﾠMg CO2￢ﾀﾐeqￂﾠha￢ﾈﾒ1ￂﾠyear￢ﾈﾒ1. One of the potential disadvantages of cover crops identified was the reduction in grain yield of the primary crop by ￢ﾉﾈ4%, compared to the control treatment. This drawback could be avoided by selecting mixed cover crops with a range of legumes and non￢ﾀﾐlegumes, which increased the yield by ￢ﾉﾈ13%. These advantages of cover crops justify their widespread adoption. However, management practices in relation to cover crops will need to be adapted to specific soil, management and regional climatic conditions.</p> A critical review of the impacts of cover crops on nitrogen leaching, net greenhouse gas balance and crop productivity 10.1111/gcb.14644 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14644