Today we're in a field near Manawa. This
field has been cash cropped for several years
and over the past three years, the farmer
has actually incorporated cover crops
after his fall planting. So a cash crop has
been planted followed by a cover crop,
typically one of the spring barleys or
spring oat or sometimes even
incorporated radish. So the farmers
changed it up each year with the goals
of increasing organic matter contents, as
well as, in relieving compaction. So this
field is very dense. We're sitting just
above Bear Lake, which has some water
quality concerns. So, the farmer's really
interested in improving the infiltration
rates on this field. And so, right now, we
have several cover crops planted. We're
actually at a former field day and we're
going to look at and focus on how the
roots of these cover crops are growing
down into the soil profile. Before I get
down into the pit, I'm going to emphasize
first. what I want to highlight is the
fact that the roots are following, of
this cover crop, are following old root
channels, not only from the former barley
crop, but also from earthworm channels. So
let's take a look at these properties in
the soil. So as I was discussing, there's
tremendous root growth. These are the
roots from the cover crop
that's growing right now and if you can
see this on the video, you'll see all
this nice dark staining. These are old
root channels. So this is one of the
benefits of cover crops. So from the
former barley crop that was growing this
summer, they would open up root channels
down into the soil profile and now as
this new cover crop grows down in the
profile it's using the same exact hole.
What that does, is it helps this new crop
focus on above-ground biomass, actually
producing plant matter, rather than
focusing on trying to burrow those roots
down into the ground.
Why this is also important, is that these
roots help with infiltration. We
specified that we were above a lake with
water quality concerns, so you can
imagine that all of these continuous
pores created by these roots are helping
water to infiltrate into what is a
fairly dense heavy clay soil. The other
thing I want to point out in this
profile is this beautiful earthworm
channel. I'm not sure that you can see it
in this video, but what it is, is you see
this root right here. You can
trace it all the way down into this
divot right here and I picked out this
earthworm channel. So that root would
have followed right
down and is able to tap that sub soil
moisture, as well as the nutrients lower
in the profile. All of this is helping to
reduce compaction and increase
infiltration rates in the soil. Another
thing I want to point out about this pit
is the good soil structure and so the
farmer was really worried about
compaction, but as we move down through
the soil profile, you notice that these
aggregates break apart really easily.
That is due to, not only that earthworm
action, but also that root action. As
it's starting to break, these larger peds
into smaller aggregates. That is going to
assist us in getting better root growth
and you can see all of this prolific
root growth down through this profile,
but also help with that water
infiltration that we've been stressing.
So, you'll notice, as we move down through
this pit, even in the lower profile, where
we tend to have a lot of clay, we're
starting to see those roots helping to
break that up and you can see this nice
little fine root here, helping to
break those aggregates into smaller
aggregates, making this a better soil
overall. We have several
instances of really good structure at
the surface and you'll notice we have a
little bit of compaction at the surface
where it tends to be a little chunkier,
and that's probably due to a little bit
of surface tillage, but and as well as
some of the implements driving over the
ground, but as we get through a little
bit of surface compaction you'll
notice that we have really good
structure and you can see as I start to
pick that face, all of these routes starting
to pop out in the profile. Again, one of
the benefits of having cover crops in a
profile, is helping to increase that
structure, helping to increase that pore
space, which will pay off dividends in
the end with water infiltration as well
as better crop growth.