Crop Rotation: Planning and Implementing a Rotation
Crop Rotation: Planning
and Implementing a Rotation
Generally, crop rotation is
the practice of growing different types of crops in the same area in sequenced.
It is done so that the soils of farms are not used for only one set of
nutrients. Therefore, there will be a planning and implementation of crop
rotation. Planning crop rotation means planning an effective rotation that
requires weighing and fluctuating production circumstances: market, farm size,
labor supply, climate, soil type, growing practices and etc. Planning should
be doing first before start doing implementation. The planning has many things
that need to be considered. Next, implementation of crop rotation may be
enriched by the influences of other practices such as the addition of livestock
and manure, inter cropping or multiple cropping and organic management.
The
most important planning that need to be considered in crop rotation are
climate. Producers need to match their crop rotation with the water cycle
characteristics. If a crop rotation is not sufficiently intense there can be
too much left in the system. This can lead to water logging, saline seep
formation, nutrient loss and soil compaction. But, if there are too much of
water, it will lead to the flood, soil erosion, and leaching. On the other hand,
a crop rotation that too intense also can lead to excessive water stress and
poor yields. Climate can give an impact to the growing of plants because it is
water supplies for the plants. Then, soil types also need to be considered
because of the nutrient content in the soil. It has need to be added and
treated if have unwanted bacteria that can lead to plant diseases.
Furthermore,
planning a crop rotation, the soil types also need to be considered. The expert
people need to check the condition of soil, soil texture, soil types, soil pH
and etc. All these things need to be check before doing the crop rotation. It
is because soil can give a big impact to the crop rotation process because it
supplies nutrients to the crops. The soil pH should be consistent which is not
too acidic, if the soil has low pH, the maintenance of soil was needed. Lime
need to recovery the soil pH to make it suitable for planting crops. Other than
that, the history of the soils also needs to be considered such as the soils
has infected by soil borne disease such as Phytophthora.
The soils need to be disease free to prevent any infections to the crops in the
future. This soil disease can lead to the loss of farmers profit. Therefore,
soil types need to be check when planning for crop rotation and soil erosion
can be prevent from happen.
Figure 1: The soil components that
suitable for crop cultivation
Next,
for implementing crop rotation, incorporation of livestock is one of the implementations
that needed in crop rotation. Introducing livestock makes the most efficient
use if critical sod and cover crops which is through manure that are able to
distribute the nutrients in these crops throughout the soil rather than
removing nutrients from the farm. It is because there are a lot of benefits to
the crop rotation. A source of nutrients that can be used for direct
application or composting it is by combining livestock and vegetable
production, the whole farm nutrient of imports and exports become more even.
From this implementation, manure, nutrients and compost applications tend to
improve soil organic matter, biological activity and potential disease
suppression. As example, farmers work on cultivation of oil palm as well as
cattle breeding. This can give benefits to the farmers farm and increasing
their profit.
Figure
2 : The example of incorporation of livestock in smallholder farm
In addition, inter cropping also one
of the implementations in crop rotation. There are two types of intercropping
which is multiple cropping and double cropping. Multiple cropping that consist
of inter cropping/companion cropping that offer more diversity and complexity
within the same season or rotation. As example in the inter-planning of corn
with pole beans and vining squash or pumpkins. In this system, the beans will
provide nitrogen and the corn support for the beans against squash vine bore.
The vining squash provides a weed suppressive canopy and a discouragement for
corn-hungry racoons. Then, double cropping is a common where two crops that
identically or different species are grown in the same growing season. As
example, vegetables that grown continuously with wheat. This can be pros to
leave cover crops to replenish the soil for extended periods of time as a larger
farm can.
Figure 3: The figure shown example of crops that used for multiple
cropping
Other
than that, one of the implementations that have to do are apply organic matter.
Applying the organic matter are important because it is to maintain the
nutrient content inside the soil, works to control pests, manages and conserves
nutrients and protect against erosion. That is why incorporation of livestock can
give some benefits in maintained the organic matter at that farm. The organic
matter will maintain the nutrients inside the soil. In addition, there will be
less use of chemical fertilizers to recover the soil components. From these the
producer or farmers can reduce their capital and increase their profit.
Lastly, a good crop rotation
can reduce producer risk if they doing the planning and implementing correctly.
Each crop has a different critical growth period and we need to do research
about the crops that we want to plant. Especially environmental stress that
severely will affect one crop may be negligible to another due to different
life cycles. Therefore, the planning and implementing should be considered
before doing the crop rotation to lead for the producers gain more yields and
lead to successful of farm management.
References
- Rick Kersbegen. Integrating Livestock with Crop Production Yields Benefits for Both. From: https://mosesorganic.org/farming/farming-topics/livestock/integrating-livestock-with-crop-production/
- Ruth Beck; (2014). Crop Rotation. Retrieved April 24,2014, from http://igrow.org/agronomy/corn/crop-rotation/
- Shamim Reza;(2016). Crop Rotation – A Vital Component of Organic Farming. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from https://permaculturenews.org/2016/06/15/crop-rotation-a-vital-component-of-organic-farming/
Name:
Nurul Shazuwani Binti Suliman
Matric
no.: 2018441334
usually I do rotate my crop from 4 to 6 months susceptible to the soil in my small 1 hector farm. These include: 1.potatoes 2.Tomatoes and 3. ladyfinger
ReplyDeleteso it is necessary to read the information for crop rotation like this post thanks for a very helpful post