Articles | Volume 2, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-583-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-583-2016
Original research article
 | 
02 Nov 2016
Original research article |  | 02 Nov 2016

Soil microbial biomass and function are altered by 12 years of crop rotation

Marshall D. McDaniel and A. Stuart Grandy

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Short summary
Modern agriculture is dominated by monoculture crop production, having negative effects on soil biology. We used a 12-year crop rotation experiment to examine the effects of increasing crop diversity on soil microorganisms and their activity. Crop rotations increased microbial biomass by up to 112 %, and increased potential ability to supply nitrogen as much as 58 %, compared to monoculture corn. Collectively, our findings show that soil health is increased when crop diversity is increased.
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