The importance of crop rotation
(Edited)
In agriculture, many techniques or alternatives can be applied based on what happens in the natural ecosystem, because it has to be remembered that agricultural production units are spaces that were previously not altered by the hand of man. In this case, when referring to crop rotation, we are indicating an alternation of crops on a certain surface for a certain time to avoid the depletion of a certain nutritional element and break the cycle of some pathogenic organisms such as pest insects.
The successful behavior of organic production systems depends on viable crop rotations, defined as those that maintain fertility and contribute to the control of weeds, pests and diseases. Many rotations may be acceptable, but according to Soil Association (1989), a rotation should incorporate in its design the following criteria:
- Balancing the dynamics of nutrients with the extraction that crops make
- Incorporate legume crops
- Include crops with different radical systems
- Separate in space and/or time crops that have similar susceptibilities to certain pathogens
- Maintain or increase the levels of organic matter in the soil.
The aforementioned criteria allow achieving balance within agroecosystems, because generally the continued monoculture of a species usually leads to a decrease in the level of production compared to the same species in rotation and this reduction is usually not related to fertility problems or pathogens. In this regard, much of the literature on the subject of crop rotation. they use this term to describe the fact that most rotations will increase crop yields to levels higher than those obtained by continuous cultivation under similar conditions.
In relation to what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, it can be said that rotating crops produce more than the same crop produced continuously in the same area. The increase in production could be balanced or compensated by the reduction in the frequency of occurrence of the crop in the rotation and the effect could be an increase in the efficiency of the whole crop. Usually crops without the edition of fertilizers from an external source remove significant amounts of nutrients from the soil.
Therefore, it is logical that the continuous production of one crop will determine a reduction in the availability of soil nutrients and a drop in the production of the next crop. However, some crops, such as legumes, are able to add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil and others maintain the level of those or other nutrients. In this way, it is possible to distinguish between crops that contribute to the level or status of organic matter and nutrients in the soil, those that are neutral and those that produce a decline in those constituents.
| Bibliography consulted |
|---|
- Agrarian Forum "Sustainable Agricultural Systems" Postgraduate School, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Central University of Ecuador. Venegas, R. (s.f)."The agroecological transition: The search for change towards sustainable agricultural production systems"
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Don’t forget about the importance of letting a field lie fallow. This also kills off a lot of pests and diseases due to affected crops not growing.
Incidentally this is a system used for thousands of years and is mentioned in the Bible as a law for the Israelites whereby they were directed to leave a field to lie fallow every 7 years. Time between fallows doesn’t really matter but the principle has been there for a long time and it’s only now we know why.