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- Title
Introducing Perennial Grain in Grain Crops Rotation: The Role of Rooting Pattern in Soil Quality Management.
- Authors
Duchene, Olivier; Celette, Florian; Barreiro, Ana; Dimitrova Mårtensson, Linda-Maria; Freschet, Grégoire T.; David, Christophe
- Abstract
The use of the perennial grain intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium (Host) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey) may have the potential to sustain soil health and fertility through the development of an extensive root system. However, references are scarce to demonstrate its potential influence in a context of a limited perennial grain growth phase, integrated into annual grain crops succession. This study aims at determining how early a perennial crop rooting system differs from that of an annual crop through root development and root traits and microbial indicators. Our results indicate that the two-year-old intermediate wheatgrass promotes a denser and deeper rooting system with proportionally more root biomass and length deeper in the soil profile. From the first growing season, the perennial grain demonstrated a suite of root traits typical of a more resource-conservative strategy, and more belowground-oriented resource allocation. Soil fungal biomass indicators were enhanced. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) indicators were notably found to be improved at 1 m depth during the second growing season. This study provides evidence that grain-based agriculture can benefit from the potential of deeper and long-lived root systems of intermediate wheatgrass to manage soils. The periodic use of a short-term perennial phase in the crop rotation has the potential to improve soil functioning in the long term.
- Subjects
SOIL management; SOIL quality; CROP rotation; VESICULAR-arbuscular mycorrhizas; GRAIN; ROOT development
- Publication
Agronomy, 2020, Vol 10, Issue 9, p1254
- ISSN
2073-4395
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/agronomy10091254