The Impacts of Soil Health Management Systems Including Residue Management, Cover Crops, Diverse Crop Rotation, and Increased Soil Microbiology and their Relationships with Nutrient Cycling, Soil Water Availability, and Plant Growth

This project will demonstrate effectiveness and incorporation into local farming systems of management practices that have been shown to work in other parts of the country but have not been widely adopted in sub-tropical, semi-arid regions of Texas and Oklahoma. Cover Crops will be used to enhance nutrient deficient soils and suppress weeds to the point where productive perennial forages can be established. In addition the use of Cover Crops sown into established perennial Bermuda grass pastures to enhance soil organic content, soil water holding capacity and soil fertility will be explored.