Pecan Orchard cover crop research trial

Cover crops are promoted as means to build soil carbon, boost soil microbial populations, and enhance soil structure. But, in orchards and vineyards cover crops are planted in interrow alleys thus, their direct impacts on the soil conditions beneath trees and vines is less clear. This study evaluated soils beneath a mixture of cover crop species and beneath adjacent pecan trees in 5- and 7-year-old orchards to evaluate impacts of cover on the soil biota, nutrients, carbon, and their dynamics across a production season.