The stability of the soil aggregates is an important soil quality indicator, as it affects the soil’s overall functionality. As the soil aggregates are highly affected by agricultural practices, it is essential to know how crops interact with the aggregation process. Therefore, for obtaining more knowledge, this research was conducted in Estonia in an organic crop rotation field experiment from 2012/2013 through 2015/2016 to study the effects of crops (potato → spring barley undersown with red clover → red clover → winter wheat → pea) under different treatments (T_C—control; T_W—winter cover crops; T_W+M—T_W with farmyard manure 40 Mg ha⁻¹ per crop rotation). The results showed that in the topsoil (5–10 cm), the soil water-stable aggregate (WSA) content (determined by the wet sieving method) from highest to lowest was following: pea (61.7%), winter wheat (61.6%), spring barley (61.5%), red clover (59.3%), potato (57.1%); whereas in the subsoil (30–35 cm): potato (50.6%), pea (48.5%), red clover (47.9%), spring barley (47.7%), winter wheat (46.4%). Therefore, potato was a noticeable crop, as among the crops, it had the lowest WSA content in the topsoil, while highest in the subsoil. The results shown gave an assumption that the after-effects of some crops (foremost with pea) were noticeable in the soil properties during the following crop. In the topsoil, the differences between crops were significant among crops just for T_W and T_W+M treatments. In T_W, potato was lower than spring barley and winter wheat, but not significantly lower than pea or red clover. In the subsoil, significant differences between crops were observed for T_C and T_W treatments: in T_C, potato was just significantly greater than red clover (but similar to other crops), and in T_W, significantly greater than winter wheat. Furthermore, in the topsoil the soil organic carbon (SOC) content was not significantly affected by crops, and the use of winter cover crops generally increased the SOC content while concurrently decreased the WSA content and the soil maximum water holding capacity. This was probably caused by the additional tillage operations which cancelled out the possible benefits for the soil aggregates. As a consequence of the constantly declining SOC content, caused by the weakened soil aggregates, the plant-available P and K contents, especially in the absence of manure applications, decreased as well, probably due to the combination of fixation and removal of plant biomass. Therefore, it is expected that by continuing this trend, the plant growing conditions decline, which in turn will have a negative effect for the aggregate formation and carbon sequestration, which are essential for plant growth.

Soil formation on the human time scale is immensely time consuming, although it can be significantly accelerated through the effects of vegetation. The content of water-stable aggregates (WSAs) is a useful indicator for determining both the soil development level and the soil quality. However, in severely degraded soils, especially in the Baltic pedoclimatic region, the effects of vegetation on the aggregate stability have been poorly studied. Therefore, to obtain more knowledge about the impact of vegetation on WSA, and thereby knowing how to improve it, this study was conducted on a long-term soil formation experiment in Estonia near Tartu. In 1964, the initial soil from an area of 20 × 8 m down to 100 cm depth was replaced with a sandy loam calcareous glacial till. The experiment started on April 26, 1965, when plants were sown on the plot. The topsoil (0–20 cm) samples were analyzed in 1966, 2000, 2007, and 2014. The study indicated that perennial grasses (meadow fescue and common meadow-grass) fertilized with P₄₀K₇₅, compared to N₁₅₀P₄₀K₇₅, decreased the WSA content, as well at the accumulation rate of soil organic carbon (SOC) and the total nitrogen content (N_tot). The hybrid alfalfa treatment resulted in the significantly highest SOC and N_tot accumulation, but not in the overall highest WSA content. Under barley, manure positively affected the WSA and SOC, though many other physical properties were not improved. Compared to the initial till under bare fallow, the SOC and N_tot contents were significantly higher under grown crops, but the WSA content remained the same. In addition, regardless of the grown crops, the WSA of larger (0.25–2 mm) aggregates was substantially higher than that of smaller (0.25–1 mm) aggregates. Also, as the relationship between WSA and SOC in the study was linear, the soil was far from C saturation and still in development. Overall, it can be concluded that the cultivation of perennial grasses and hybrid alfalfa on the severely eroded soil is the most rational option to improve the water stability of aggregates and increase the SOC and N_tot contents. However, because of the complexity of the aggregation process, further research is still needed.