School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
Soil ecosystem services, like the ability to store water, have been depleted after a century of conventional, annual cropping, and perennial crops offer a solution to this and other agricultural environmental issues. We assessed the impact of Miscanthus × giganteus (miscanthus), a perennial biomass crop, on soil water holding capacity and structure compared to continuous maize (Zea mays L.) at two sites in Iowa. After three growing seasons, we measured the following: (1) maximum water holding capacity (MWHC) with and without soil structure, and (2) total porosity and pore size distribution (PSD) via micro-computed tomography (microCT). Miscanthus increased MWHC by 14.7% across both sites relative to maize (p = 0.002), and we attributed this to structural changes due to the lack of a crop effect when measured on structureless soils. No significant changes were detected in soil organic matter, texture, total porosity, or PSD that could explain the increase in MWHC under miscanthus. Our findings suggest that the increases in MWHC are primarily due to structural changes rather than increases in soil organic matter or porosity (at least porosity detectable by microCT). This study highlights miscanthus' potential to enhance soil water storage and underscores the need for further investigation to clarify the mechanisms through which this biomass crop influences soil structural properties.
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Jessica T., Maoz Dor, Andy D. VanLoocke, Jacob E. Studt, Perla K. Schrock, and Marshall D. McDaniel. "Miscanthus× giganteus increases soil maximum water holding capacity compared to maize." Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment 8, no. 3 (2025): e70181. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70181
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment
DOI
10.1002/agg2.70181
Comments
Student publication. © 2025 The Author(s). Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Crop Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.