Elucidating the role and contribution of cover crop roots to soil fertility and crop nutrition in organic cropping systems

氮预算在有机种植系统中是一项复杂的任务，因为作物施肥是基于有机肥（动物粪便、覆盖作物、堆肥等），而不是现成的矿物肥料。这些有机肥对后续作物营养的贡献，特别是覆盖作物根系对土壤氮收支的贡献，仍有许多未知因素。事实上，在估算覆盖作物对氮收支和施肥计划的贡献时，一般只考虑覆盖作物的茎部生物量。然而，被覆盖作物的根系被假设对农业土壤的土壤氮供应有很大贡献。以前没有研究解决这些重要和创新的研究问题。

Nitrogen budgeting is a complex task in organic cropping systems, because crop fertilization is based on organic fertilizers (animal manures, cover crops, compost, etc.) rather than readily available mineral fertilizers. Many unknowns remain on the contribution of these organic fertilizers to the nutrition of subsequent crops, and particularly on the contribution of cover crop roots to soil N budget. Indeed, generally, only the shoot biomass of cover crops is considered when estimating the contribution of cover crops to nitrogen budget and fertilization plan. However, cover crop roots are hypothesized to contribute considerably to the soil N supply of agricultural soils. No research has previously addressed these important and innovative research questions.