Maintaining ground covers through fall, winter, and early spring drastically reduces soil loss. Soil texture affects both nutrient availability and water management. It also affects how much herbicide the soil will hold. All soils contain amounts of sand, silt, and clay particles. Soil texture is determined by the relative amounts of these three types of particles.
Cover crops provide organic matter to the soil system.
They stimulate biosystems, microbial, and macro-organism activity. Cover crops reduce soil compaction while increasing water percolation and retention. They help soils maintain a high organic-matter level, and help improve soil aggregation, porosity, infiltration, and bulk density. MSU researchers are also looking at the use of cover crops for weed control without reducing crop yields. Cover crops can shade and interfere with weed germination and establishment, while cereal ryes actually produce chemicals that suppress weeds.