Location: Agroecosystem Management Research
Title: More diverse crop rotations improve yield, yield stability, and soil healthAuthor
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Submitted to: Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin
Publication Type: Experiment Station Publication Acceptance Date: 10/27/2021 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Crop rotation has been used by farmers for generations to improve grain yields by regenerating the soil and breaking the cycles of weeds, animal and insect damage to crops. Our long-term study in eastern Nebraska, along with several other long-term studies in the US and Canada, showed that crop rotation management had stronger agronomic and soil health benefits compared to synthetic N fertilizer alone. Fertilizer use, while beneficial, was no substitute for using crop rotation. In the long-term, rotating two or more crops can improve agronomic performance and soil health, and boost farm profitability by reducing N fertilizer input costs. Technical Abstract: Increasing grain production while reducing input costs is a concern that farmers have been addressing for a long time. Improving yield stability is also an important management strategy to counteract climate change-induced weather extremes (i.e. heat waves, droughts,flooding) that stress both crop growth and farm profitability. Reliable information about the effectiveness of crop rotation and fertilizer management involves many years of data from many locations to account for the year-to-year variability in soils, weather, and growing conditions. Here, we share the results from a long-term rainfed no-till crop rotation and nitrogen (N) fertilizer systems study conducted by the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center |
