The researchers used excess cattle manure from local producers.
In the dry air and soil of Texas’ Southern High Plains, improving soil health can be tough. We usually think of healthy soil as moist and loose with lots of organic matter. But this can be hard to achieve in this arid area of Texas.
Lindsey Slaughter, a member of the Soil Science Society of America, set out with her fellow researchers to test a solution that kills two birds with one stone. They put excess cow manure on these soils to see if they could make them healthier. The team recently published their research in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.
“We know that planting perennial grasslands for cattle production can help protect and restore soil in semi-arid lands that are likely to erode and degrade from intense farming,” Slaughter says. “But producers need additional ways to increase soil carbon and nutrient stores.”
Continue reading at American Society of Agronomy
Image via American Society of Agronomy
