Soil microbes flourish with reduced tillage
Wednesday, October 5, 2016 - 04:31
in Earth & Climate
Microbes improve soil quality by cycling nutrients and breaking plant residues down into soil organic matter. In an effort to detect consistent patterns across a large geographical area, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 62 studies examining the effect of tillage on soil microbes. No-till systems had greater soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity. Tilled systems that used a chisel plow were equivalent to no-till systems, in terms of microbial biomass.