Rotation of crops is a very wise agricultural practice.

Some reasons to practice crop rotation are:

Avoiding diseases:
Most diseases reoccur due to pathogen buildup. The most effective resistance is using crop rotation and other management practices. Disease resistance should be a priority in selecting  hybrids or varieties if you know that a certain disease is or has been a problem and has the potential to reoccur. However, there are a few disease that do survive the crop rotation such as: rust, Stewarts wilt of corn, and yellow dwarf in wheat and oats. Some of these diseases can cause complete crop failure in the non-rotated field.

Increased soil management:
    Soil born diseases can be halted with the rotation pattern. The rotation also helps to cut down in the application of herbicides and pesticides, which will cut down on the disease resistance problem that could occur by planting the same crop over and over in the same soil. This will also help to keep the environment clean.

Increased yields of crops:
    Typically in Ohio, a three-year crop rotation of corn, wheat and soybeans is the most common. According to Ohioline information sheets, this three-year rotation appears to be the best option to achieve a sustained yield for all three crops. The increased yields go hand-in-hand with the previous two topics.


Continue on to learn more about these three issues concerning crop rotation.

 


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