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Many complex, natural landscapes have been transformed into simpler agroecosystems by continuous cropping and the application of glyphosate and fertilizers. The current mosaic with different land cover types can harbor different soil microbial communities. Here, we investigated how the microbial community and ryegrass plants responded to glyphosate and nitrogen application to soils from four different cover types (soybean monocropping; wheat/soybean-field pea rotation, herbaceous- and woody- uncropped margins). We predict that soils from different land cover types will display different responses of their detritivore microbial communities and plant growth to herbicide and fertilizer application. All the studied variables differed among land cover types. Woody margins tripled the soil carbon content and the microbial respiration of herbaceous margins, although the later had more diverse soil microbial communities. Soils from soybean monoculture had higher respiration rates (37%) than those from crop rotation, where ryegrass accumulated lower biomass (12% lower). Despite these differences between land cover types, neither glyphosate nor nitrogen fertilization significantly influenced these properties. Only ryegrass plants growing on glyphosate-treated soils accumulated more biomass than the rest whereas they did not respond to nitrogen. These results suggest that glyphosate and nitrogen at recommended doses did not have a significant impact on the soil performance of the different types of cover. • Different land covers promote environmental and microbial heterogeneity in arable soils. • Soil microbes and ryegrass growing in monocropping soils outperformed those from crop rotation. • Microbial respiration and composition from different land covers were not affected by glyphosate and nitrogen addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Temperate perennial grass swards show a productivity slump during the warm season. • Root systems were markedly shallow, so swards faced drought when topsoil desiccated. • Intrinsic effects of drought and N deficiency were the major causes of low yields. • Sward N status was affected under extreme drought but not by moderate water stress. Temperate-type, summer-active cool-season perennial grasses are frequently exposed to dry spells during the warm season due to the high atmospheric demand and fast soil desiccation. Since water availability is essential for sward nitrogen (N) uptake and most mineral N is located in the topsoil, water stress may hinder sward N nutrition if it reduces N supply. In hydro-halomorphic soils, imbalances between soil N supply and sward N demand during summer could be further aggravated by, first, the limited water holding capacity of the topsoil, and second, potential availability of water from deep, N-poor soil horizons that are kept moist by a shallow water table. The aim of this work was to quantify the effect of N and water availability on N status and productivity of temperate-type perennial swards growing in a hydro-halomorphic soil of the Flooding Pampa. During two consecutive years, shoot and root dynamics, as well as radiation capture, N nutrition index (NNI), soil water availability and leaf water potential were followed over six weeks long mid-summer regrowths of old stands (>9 years) of temperate-type tall fescue Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.] sown on a typical Natraqualf soil in Balcarce, Argentina. Swards were either rainfed or irrigated and fertilized with either 40 or 200 kg de N ha−1. Root systems were large (5.8–9.3 Mg DM roots ha−1), but concentrated mostly in the 0.2 m topsoil (66%–75% of root biomass or length). Despite invariably high available water below 0.4 m throughout both experimental periods, rainfed swards faced transient episodes of water stress whenever the upper soil layer dried out. Tall fescue swards were strongly co-limited by water and N during summer, showing comparable, very high responses to both N addition and irrigation. Further, forage yield showed synergistic increases when swards received both supplemental water and N simultaneously. This was mainly due to consistent synergistic responses in radiation use efficiency and leaf lifespan. Sward NNI was depressed only by an historically severe drought but was not altered when water stress intensity was lower, close to average for the season in the area. Therefore, the major causes of typically low summer productivity of temperate-type tall fescue growing in hydro-halomorphic soils of the Flooding Pampa are the intrinsic effects of low N and low water availability, with only uncommonly extreme water stress episodes reducing yield indirectly through an aggravation of crop N status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]