It is well known that the cover crops (CC) present multiple benefits. However, there is very few studies quatifying the soil hydraulic properties impact in the long term. For this study inverse calibration techniques were applied to the model WAVE, based on continuos soil water content measurements with EnviroSCAN® in a 10 year experiment. In this time, two main effects were observed: the initial effect of the minimum tillage,compacting bare soil and CC treatment equaly, and the CC effect after that. The CC effect was mainly observed below 20 cm (and mostly at 40-80 cm depth), increasing the soil micro- and macro-porosity, improving the structure and resulting in soil water retention curves risen and flattered, retaining more water.
Gabriel, J. L., Quemada, M., Martin-Lammerding, D., & Vanclooster, M. (2017). Estimacion de la evolucion de las propiedades hidraulicas del suelo despues de 10 anos con o sin cultivo cubierta. Estudios en la zona no saturada del Suelo, 13, 163-174. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/175123 (Original work published 2017)