Integrating Cover Crops as a BMP for Improving Soil Health into Commercial Vegetable Production Systems

Alternative sustainable management practices such as incorporation of cover crops into commercial crop production systems have been shown to positively influence physical, chemical, and biological aspects of soil health without negatively affecting the yields. Although the majority of soil health research has been conducted with field crops, benefits such as reduced loss of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), improved nutrient balances, and increased soil carbon levels were also found in rotational systems of cover crops with vegetables as the main crop. Due to limited information on the specificity of the parameters measured for soil health for specific soils, cropping systems, and ecosystems in Florida, a two-year field study has been initiated in a commercial vegetable-cover crop system. Data presented will focus on the physical parameters of soil health and will use saturated hydraulic conductivity and bulk density as indicators of soil pore space and water movement withing the soil profile in a commercial tomato-cover crop system produced on sandy soils.