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

在有机种植系统中，氮收支是一项复杂的任务，因为作物施肥是基于有机肥料（动物粪便，覆盖作物，堆肥等）。而不是容易获得的矿物肥料。这些有机肥料对后茬作物营养的贡献，特别是覆盖作物根系对土壤氮收支的贡献，仍有许多未知数。实际上，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地上部生物量。然而，覆盖作物根系被假设为农业土壤的土壤氮供应作出了巨大贡献。以前没有任何研究涉及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.