Progress 07/01/24 to 06/30/25
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided numerous opportunities for the professional, technical, and scientific development of students, technicians, and early-career scientists. Training has been facilitated through hands-on experience in leading and participating in field sampling campaigns, laboratory processing, as well as building expertise in established scientific protocols. For example, one technician independently developed specialized expertise in installing, maintaining, and interpreting data from LICOR gas flux chambers, becoming the Topp lab's lead resource in this area. Professional growth has also been supported by opportunities to prepare and present research findings at national scientific conferences, further advancing career development across multiple stages. Professional development has also been supported through dissemination of project findings. To date, data generated by this project has contributed to four independent conference abstracts led by a senior scientist, postdoctoral researcher, graduate student, and technician. These were submitted to the CANVAS Tri-Societies Conference (ASA, CSSA, SSSA) and the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (AGU25), where results will be presented in 2025. Collectively, these opportunities reflect the project's commitment to training the next generation of agricultural scientists and supporting career advancement at multiple levels. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project findings have been actively prepared for dissemination to scientific communities. To date, data generated through this research has contributed to four independent conference abstracts led by a senior scientist, postdoctoral researcher, graduate student, and technician. These were submitted to the CANVAS Tri-Societies Conference (ASA, CSSA, SSSA) and the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (AGU25), where results will be presented in 2025. By engaging multiple team members in presenting research outcomes, the project ensures broad dissemination of findings to both agricultural and interdisciplinary audiences while amplifying visibility of the work across professional networks. Conference abstracts: Zhao Jiang, Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang, Kong Wong, Kirsten Hein, G. Cody Bagnall, Christopher N. Topp. Monitoring Phenotypic Variation Across Diverse Cover Crop Species and Assessing Their Impacts on Subsequent Corn Production via Airborne-Satellite Cross-Scale Sensing. AGU25 Hein, K., Bagnall, G. C., Bauer, M., Griffiths, M. D., Wong, K., & Topp, C. (2025) Exploring Shoot and Root Trait Diversity across Functional Groups of Cover Crops. CANVAS 2025, Salt Lake City, UT. G. Cody Bagnall, Shayla Gunn, Mao Li, Ajay Kumar Patel, Alifu Haireti, Vasit Sagan and Christopher Topp. Advancing Root System Research: Species-Level Classification Using Hyperspectral Imaging. CANVAS 2025 G. Cody Bagnall, Bartolo Giuseppe Dimattia, Matthew Bauer, Kirsten Hein, Kong Wong, Marcus D. Griffiths, and Christopher Topp. Belowground Impacts of Cover Crops: Linking Root Traits, Soil Water Retention, and Gas Fluxes. CANVAS 2025 What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will complete fall 2025 field sampling and finalize data processing for year three cover crop, soil, and corn measurements. With a comprehensive multi-year dataset in place, we will conduct integrated analyses to evaluate the impacts of diverse cover crop traits on soil properties and subsequent corn production. Building on these analyses, we will initiate manuscript preparation for submission to high-impact scientific journals. Planned publications include: (i) a multi-year experimental resource describing above- and belowground phenotypic variation in diverse cover crops, (ii) a synthesis of measurements linking cover crop traits to corn production outcomes, and (iii) additional manuscripts depending on data quality, processing timelines, and new hypotheses generated from results and relevant literature. Collectively, these activities will translate the project's datasets into scientific outputs that advance understanding of cover crop contributions to sustainable agricultural systems
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have advanced a 13-acre longitudinal field study at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Research Site to evaluate the role of diverse cover crop species in no-till systems, with additional plots maintained under fallow and conventional tillage treatments. Objective 1: Characterize aboveground and belowground phenotypic variation across diverse cover crop species. Comprehensive phenotypic datasets have been collected and processed, with analyses underway. These include three-years of shoot biomass data and stand counts, two-years of root biomass and leaf C and N concentration measurements, and a full analysis of cover crop root system architecture from the first year. Ongoing work in 2025 is expanding this dataset through flatbed scanning of excavated roots and minirhizotron imaging, which will provide a second year of root system architecture and a more detailed characterization of belowground traits and their change over time. During the 2024-2025 season, airborne hyperspectral images have been collected for the bare soil before cover crop planting, diverse cover crops in the spring, and also corn after the cover crop termination. The hyperspectral images with 0.5-meter resolution and spectral coverage of 400-2500 nm will enable high-throughput phenotyping of diverse cover crop species and corn. The airborne hyperspectral-based crop trait maps will support the upscaling to daily 3-meter resolution PlanetScope satellite data for the continuous monitoring of cover crop traits and corn productivity. Objective 2: Empirically assess the impacts of cover crop root phenotypes on soil properties and corn production. Data collection and processing for soil and corn responses to cover crop adoption have also progressed. To date, analysis-ready datasets include two years of plot-level measurements of soil pH, organic matter, nitrate, ammonium, and C:N ratios, along with one year each of aggregate stability, bulk density, and hydraulic conductivity. Additional completed datasets include two years of cover crop residue biomass and two years of corn yield and biomass. In 2025, this effort was expanded in the spring to include pre-termination measurements of soil potentially mineralizable carbon, soil C and N pools, and continuous CO? and N?O fluxes in cereal rye and winter barley plots using LICOR long-term and survey chambers. Following cover crop termination, summer measurements focused on continued gas flux monitoring and corn leaf N content. Final sampling planned for Fall 2025 will include soil texture, bulk density, aggregate stability, and end-of-season corn yield, completing the third year of this multi-year dataset. Together, these accomplishments establish a robust foundation of multi-year, multi-trait datasets that will enable integrated analyses of how cover crop traits influence soil health and corn productivity. This work is advancing knowledge of plant-soil interactions in agroecosystems and will provide critical insights for designing resilient, productive cropping systems
Publications
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