Does Adding Manure Improve Soil Health in an Organic Grassland System?

Seth Fields*, Chisom Ejimofor*, David Stas, Robert Rockis and Eugenia Pena-Yewtukhiw, Davis College of Agriculture, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Agriculture (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Agroecology 

The concept of soil health has become important to the agricultural industry as people become increasingly concerned with sustainability and the desire to move away from industrial agriculture to organic or regenerative farming. Organic farming differs from industrial agriculture because it eliminates synthetic fertilizer use and, instead, uses organic or composted manure as fertilizer. West Virginia University has its own organically certified farm, which was used to conduct preliminary soil health research. Samples were taken from four experimental plots with two manure input levels (added and not added), and two grassland managements (hay or pasture). Soil health tests were performed on these soil samples. The following soil health indicators were measured: dry and wet aggregation, infiltration, organic matter, porosity, and bulk density. Organic matter was clearly higher and soil bulk density was lower in the manure treated plots. Water infiltration was related to porosity, and bulk density. From the data, we have been able to observe the improvement of soil health with manure application. 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course