Cover crop microbiome

Cover crops represent an important soil conservation mechanism during times of the year when agricultural fields would otherwise be fallow. Because the benefits to soil health of cover crops appear to be positively correlated with the length of time they are kept in the ground, there is increasing demand for management strategies that can ensure an earlier planting. However, what remains unknown is whether in-season differences in the length of time a cover crop is in the ground increases the abundance of fungal pathogen populations. Herein, we used high-throughput amplicon sequencing to determine whether the length of time a cover crop is in the ground relative abundance of pathogen populations increased after the termination of a cereal cover crop and whether the length of time a cover crop was planted for affected the relative abundance of pathogen lineages.