Long-term crop rotation affects crop yield and economic returns in humid subtropical climate

Authors: SEHGAL, AKANKSHA - Mississippi State University; SINGH, GURBIR - University Of Missouri; QUINTANA-ASHWELL, NICOLAS - Mississippi State University; KAUR, GURPREET - University Of Missouri; EBELHAR, WAYNE - Mississippi State University; NELSON, KELLY - Mississippi State University; DHILLON, JAGMANDEEP - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Field Crops Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/24/2023
Publication Date: 5/9/2023
Citation: Sehgal, A., Singh, G., Quintana-Ashwell, N., Kaur, G., Ebelhar, W., Nelson, K.A., Dhillon, J. 2023. Long-term crop rotation affects crop yield and economic returns in humid subtropical climate. Field Crops Research. 298:12 p. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2023.108952.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2023.108952

Interpretive Summary: This study evaluated the effects of 17 years of crop rotations and soil management practices by examining a study begun in 2004 at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi. This study examined six different crop rotations of cotton, corn, and soybean while examining yield and profitability. The rotations included continuous cotton, corn-cotton, corn-cotton-cotton, corn-soybean, soybean-corn-cotton, and soybean-corn-cotton-cotton and each rotation was planted within the study annually. Weather data from 1974 through 2003 was used to identify what a "dry", "normal", or "wet" weather period for the second and third quarter of each year, when crop production is ongoing, might look like and these classifications were then applied to the 17 years of active study. Cotton yields were highest when a wet quarter was followed by a dry quarter and lowest when a dry quarter was followed by a wet quarter. Corn yielded the highest grain when both quarters were normal and the lowest yield when both quarters were dry. Soybean yields were inverse to cotton yields with the highest yields coming from a dry quarter followed by a wet quarter. The most profitable rotation was the corn-cotton-cotton followed by corn-cotton with corn-soybean being the least profitable rotation in this study.

Technical Abstract: Long-term tillage and crop management studies are useful for determining crop production practices that are conducive to securing sustainable yields and profits. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of 17-year, long-term crop rotations involving cotton, corn, and soybean on yield and profitability. The study was established in 2004 at the Delta Research and Extension Center, Stoneville, Mississippi with six crop rotations. The crop rotations were continuous cotton (CT), corn-cotton (CR-CT), corn-cotton-cotton (CR-CT-CT), corn-soybean (CR-SB), soybean-corn-cotton (SB-CR-CT), and soybean-corn-cotton-cotton (SB-CR-CT-CT) with every crop in a rotation planted yearly. Thirty years of historical (1974–2003) and 17 years (2004–2020) of precipitation data during the 2nd (Q-2: 21 March to 21 June) and 3rd quarters (Q-3: 22 June to 22 September) were used to identify dry, normal, and wet precipitation quarter weather classifications (WC). Both seed cotton and lint yields were greatest in the wet-dry WC and least in the dry-wet WC under all the crop rotations. The normal-normal WC resulted in highest corn grain yields under all rotations, whereas dry-dry resulted in lowest grain yield. Soybean yield was highest under the dry-wet WC for each crop rotation including CR-SB, SB-CR-CT, and SB-CR-CT-CT. The most profitable rotation was CR-CT-CT followed by CR-CT with annual expected profit of $1042 per hectare and $1024 per hectare, respectively. The CR-SB rotation was the least profitable rotation in the study.