Abstract
Crop rotation is the successive growing of different crop species on fields with the aim to assist sustainability. Monoculture cropping, the opposite of crop rotation, of maize was and still is the main practice in the summer rainfall area of South Africa. Declining farm profits in the 1980's and increased risk due to the liberalisation of the grain markets in the early 1990's led to renewed interest in crop rotation as a practice for economically sustainable grain production although limited research has been done locally. Results of three field trials done in this area showed no yield advantage of rotated maize and wheat in comparison with monoculture. In seven trials, maize and wheat crop yields were affected, mainly improved by crop rotation. An important benefit of crop rotation in comparison with monoculture cropping is the relative low production risk with or without an increase in nett-return. Possible causes for the effect on yield involve the change in the availability of soil water and nitrogen, pressure from weeds and soil microbial composition, especially diseases affecting the maintenance of a healthy root system. Knowledge on the performance of different crop systems and relative importance of mechanisms involved under various soil, climate and management conditions is lacking and a multidisciplinary approach to future crop rotation research, is needed.
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Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
Three field trials found no yield advantage for rotated maize and wheat over monoculture.
- Taxon
- maize and wheat
Triticum aestivum
Zea mayse0 - Treatment
- rotatede0
- Outcome
- yield advantagee0
- Direction
- no yield advantagee0
- Comparator
- monoculturee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Results of three field trials done in this area showed no yield advantage of rotated maize and wheat in comparison with monoculture.”
Claim · model-written summary
Seven trials found crop yields were mainly improved by rotation.
- Taxon
- maize and wheatTriticum aestivumZea mayse0
- Treatment
- crop rotatione0
- Outcome
- crop yieldse0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In seven trials, maize and wheat crop yields were affected, mainly improved by crop rotation.”
Claim · model-written summary
Rotation reduced production risk relative to monoculture, with or without higher net return.
- Treatment
- crop rotatione0
- Outcome
- production riske0
- Direction
- relative lowe0
- Qualifier
- with or without an increase in nett-returne0
- Comparator
- monoculture croppinge0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“An important benefit of crop rotation in comparison with monoculture cropping is the relative low production risk with or without an increase in nett-return.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors call for multidisciplinary research on rotation mechanisms across conditions.
- Outcome
- multidisciplinary approach to future crop rotation researche0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“a multidisciplinary approach to future crop rotation research, is needed”
The same questions in other papers
rotation · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
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- no effect
- positive
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See all 322 papers →rotation · yield · Triticum aestivum (wheat)Positive and negative results
252 papers in the same direction as this paper · 83 in the opposite direction · 9 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- no effect
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See all 345 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.