Enhancing Agronomic Soil Functionality via Cover Cropping Management

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the early post-termination phase as a critical window for assessing soil responses and improving agricultural management decisions. The experiment was conducted in Southern Italy and arranged as a split–split plot design involving three factors: irrigation system (sprinkler vs. drip); cover crop mixture (fava bean, oat, and rapeseed, vs. vetch, barley, and white mustard); and cover crop termination method (incorporation vs. mulch). Four soil parameters were selected for this experiment: soil organic matter, soil aggregate stability, total nitrogen, and soil infiltration rate. Findings highlight no significant differences in total nitrogen among treatments, whereas the soil infiltration rate increased in drip-irrigated treatments and decreased in sprinkler-irrigated ones. Soil aggregate stability increased across all treatments, as did soil organic matter, which increased by approximately 20% within a few weeks. Overall, the irrigation system acted as the main regulator of early soil physicochemical responses. The interaction between irrigation system and cover crop termination methods produced the largest differences among the investigated parameters. The combination of sprinkler irrigation and biomass incorporation resulted in the highest increase in soil organic matter.