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Tillage

27.11.2021

Tillage – mechanical impact on the soil by tillage machines and implements in order to create optimal soil factors of plant life, as well as the destruction of weed vegetation and soil protection from erosion processes. It is the main agrotechnical means for regulation of soil regimes, intensity of biological processes and phytosanitary condition. Quality, timely, scientifically grounded tillage is the means of increasing fertility, crop yields and an integral part of intensive effective resource-saving farming systems.

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Tillage (Русская Español)

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Tillage (Русская Español)

The importance of tillage

Objectives of tillage:

giving the soil a fine lumpy structure and creating optimum texture in density, porosity, etc., at which optimum conditions are created for the growth and development of plants and microflora;
maintaining a good phytosanitary condition;
prevention of erosion processes, overcompaction, reduction of washing away and unproductive losses of water, humus and nutrients.

Tillage is necessary for reproduction and re-cultivation by deepening and increasing the thickness of the arable layer, loosening of the plow pan in the subsoil layer, incorporation of organic and mineral fertilizers and ameliorants.

Tillage allows to improve soil aeration, increase moisture supply for plants and activate the vital activity of microorganisms. Well and deeply cultivated soil allows plants to create a powerful root system. Quality loosening and leveling of the surface during pre-sowing cultivation – allows you to create favorable conditions for seed germination and emergence of seedlings.

Deep loosening in the steppe arid conditions and on sloping lands allows to regulate water regime, accumulating moisture of atmospheric precipitation in root-inhabited layer, or, on the contrary, withdrawing excessive water from the field that indirectly influences other soil regimes.

Tillage tasks differ significantly depending on soil and climatic conditions and biological features of crops.

It is worth noting that the tillage can have negative consequences: violation of the dynamic equilibrium in the system soil – plant – environment. Thus, intensive treatment activates the vital activity of soil microflora, accelerating the mineralization of humus and increasing its unproductive losses. Decomposition of turf and dispersion of the top layer in areas at risk of wind erosion creates the preconditions for soil destruction and erosion.

Repeated passes of agricultural machinery lead to strong over-compaction of the arable layer, worsening the properties, intensifying water runoff and soil drift. Tillage is an energy consuming process, requiring up to 10-15 thousand MJ of energy per 1 ha, which is not always paid back by the harvest.

The results of long-term studies of Russian and foreign scientists indicate that the high level of intensification of agriculture through the use of fertilizers, herbicides, ameliorants, irrigation, etc., change the function of tillage, reducing its share in the formation of yields to 8-12%. This is especially characteristic of soils with high potential fertility and favorable agrophysical properties. In these conditions excessive influence is inexpedient, and the role of tillage can be reduced to technological functions: filling of fertilizers, herbicides, ameliorants, seeds, etc. The main tasks in this case become reproduction of fertility, regulation of water regime and protection against erosion.

On the contrary, at low level of farming intensification, insufficient application of fertilizers, plant protection agents, etc. the importance of tillage increases and consists in mobilization of potential fertility, increasing the share of available forms of nutrients, maintenance of optimal structure and phytosanitary condition.

Developments in the science of tillage

Tillage is one of the earliest occupations of the farmer, having arisen at the same time as the beginning of plant cultivation.

Considerable progress in tillage was made in 1797 with the appearance of the first iron ploughs in England and later in Belgium. Subsequently, in 1863, the plow was improved by the German farmer Rudolf Sack, who used for plowing the plow with a skimmer, which allowed the first to learn the benefits of deep tillage.

In Russia the first recommendations for deep tillage were given in the works of Professor I.M. Komov in 1788, who proposed the double plowing of the soil from under perennial grasses, with the first plowing the depth was 8-10 cm, the second – 10-20 cm.

Significant contribution to the development of the basics of tillage was made by Russian scientists P.A. Kostychev, V.R. Williams, A.G. Doyarenko, T.S. Maltsev and others. P.A. Kostychev wrote:

“The purpose of tillage is, among other things, to change the structure of the soil, to give it such a texture, which is most favorable for the growth of plants.”

In his work “On the issue of fertilization and tillage of chernozem soils” (1886), he justified shallow plowing of early fallow in dry years to improve turf decomposition. On the contrary, P.A. Kostychev suggested deep autumn plowing on soils not covered with grass.

In the first half of the XX century, research in the theory of tillage was aimed at justification of cultural plowing with plow with skimmer and thickness of the arable layer. Much credit for this belongs to W.R. Williams. The need for cultural plowing is based on the fact that by the end of the growing season of annual plants 10 cm layer of soil is dispersed, loses structure from the mechanical effects of tools, physiological and biochemical reasons, which generally leads to a decrease in fertility. This is caused by aerobic conditions formed in the upper layers of the soil, increasing the decomposition of humus, the difficulty of oxygen penetration into the deeper horizons. To prevent the negative impact, it was proposed to repeat annual plowing to give the soil a lumpy structure.

In the works of A.N. Lebedyantsev (1905) and L.N. Barsukov (1952, 1956) differentiation of arable soil by fertility by the end of vegetation period was determined. Taking into account this discovery recommendations on combination of mouldboard and non-moldboard tillage in crop rotation were developed.

I.E. Ovsinsky in his work “New Farming System” (1899) justified tillage without ploughing, stating that chernozem soil in its natural state can accumulate sufficient amount of air and moisture, for which it is necessary to preserve its capillarity and not to allow drying. If this requirement is satisfied, it is possible to replace plowing with shallow loosening of the topsoil to a depth of 5-6 cm. For this purpose, horse-drawn cultivators with blade working tools were used.

Among western scientists, the theory of tillage without plow was followed by Jean (1910) in France, F. Achenbach (1921) in Germany, E. Faulkner (1959) in USA.

The system of non-moldboard tillage proposed by T.S. Maltsev, which replaces the plowing with soil turnover, can be considered the greatest achievement of agronomic science and practice. The system recommended by him includes subsurface tillage of 35-40 cm in depth every 3-5 years combined with surface tillage at 5-8 cm with the help of stubble ploughs or disc harrows as applied to cereal-fallow crop rotations.

The use of non-moldboard tillage led to an increase in weed infestation of the fields due to the lack of chemical means of weed control, which became a limitation in its application.

Soil conservation tillage was further developed thanks to the research of the All-Russian Research Institute of Grain Farming under the guidance of Academician A.I. Barayev. It is based on flat tillage with leaving stubble and crop residues on the soil surface, with complete rejection of mouldboard plows, cogging and disc tools and their replacement by subsurface (flat-cut) deep tillers, needle harrows and stubble seeders. Application of this technology allows to keep on the surface of the soil up to 70-80% of stubble, which protects moisture from evaporation, and gives soil wind resistance.

However, on heavy reconsolidated soils, subsurface (flat-cut) deep tillers do not provide high-quality loosening. Therefore, for these purposes, chisel, non-moldboard tools of paraplau type, interchangeable SibIME stands to ploughs were created and are used, which expand the possibilities of soil-protective cultivation, especially on the lands with increased erosion risk.

In the 70s in the USSR began to develop a new trend – minimization of tillage, which focuses on reducing over-compaction of soil, reducing losses of organic and nutrients from the soil, reducing energy and labor costs. Professors B.A. Dospekhov, S.A. Naumov, K.I. Saranin, A.I. Puponin and others made a significant contribution to this direction.

Minimization of tillage is achieved by reducing the number and depth of the main tillages in the rotation on soils with sufficiently favorable properties for plant growth, combining technological operations, replacement of mouldboard tillage with non-moldboard tillage, which reduces the number of passes of machinery in the field, reduces the time of work, increase productivity by 1.5-2 times and reduce energy costs by 30-40%.

The new technology has also disadvantages: the phytosanitary condition of the soil deteriorates, in particular, the weed infestation of crops, and crops infestation by diseases and pests increases. At the same time, reducing the rate of humus mineralization worsens the provision of crops with nitrogen, especially after cereal predecessors, which requires additional nitrogen fertilizers.

For sloping lands at risk of erosion, systems of soil-protective tillage have been developed, based on the use of non-moldboard chiseling; plowing with slitting, with changes in the field microrelief; mulching the soil with straw chips and reducing the cultivated surface and depth of loosening.

In the USA and Canada soil-protecting tillage technologies are widespread:

mulching – continuous non-moldboard tillage with the use of chisel, subsurface flat-cut and disk implements;
strip tillage – soil is cultivated before tilled crops sowing only in the row area with the help of milling machines, cultivators; weed control is carried out by a combination of mechanical and chemical methods.

For row crops sown on slopes, ridge cultivation was suggested, providing sowing on ridges 15-20 cm in height, which are making by ridge-forming cultivators across the slope of the field. Chemical methods are used to control weeds. Ridge technology allows the soil to warm up better, reducing the period of vegetation of crops. Thus, the increase in grain of corn cultivated by ridging technology was 0.35 t/ha.

Scientific basis of tillage

Agrophysical justification

Creating optimal conditions in the soil for plant growth is the main task of tillage. Among the most important agrophysical indicators are the density and texture of the arable layer, structural composition and degree of crumbling, the thickness of the arable layer and others, which directly affect crop yields.

Density

The quantitative characteristic of soil structure is density.

Equilibrium density is the density of soil that is established in natural conditions in the absence of tillage within 1-2 years and is formed under the influence of gravity, precipitation and other natural factors.

Optimum density is the density of soil at which there are the most favorable conditions for plant growth and life of soil microorganisms.

The study of plant response to the physical state of soils of different genesis allowed us to determine the intervals of optimum density values for cereals and row crops. For example, modeling the density of sod-podzolic medium-loamy soil showed that the optimum density in years with average moisture content for grain crops is 1.1-1.3 g/cm³, for row crops – 1.0-1.2 g/cm³. Equilibrium density of the same soils is 1.35-1.50 g/cm³.

Table. Equilibrium and optimum soil density for field crops (according to A.I. Puponin, 1986), g/cm³^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Soil	Granulometric composition	Equilibrium density	Optimal density for crops
			cereals	rows
Sod-podzolic	Sandy	1.5-1.6	-	1.4-1.5
	Sandy loam	1.3-1.4	1.2-1.35	1.10-1.45
	Loamy	1.35-1.50	1.1-1.3	1.0-1.2
Sod-carbonate	Loamy	1.4-1.5	1.1-1.25	1.0-1.2
Sod-gley	Loamy	1.4	1.2-1.4	-
Meadow floodplain	Loamy	1.15-1.2	-	1.0-1.2
Swampy	Degree of peat decomposition 35-40%	0.17-0.18	-	0.23-0.25
Grey Forest	Loamy	1.35-1.4	1.15-1.25	1.0-1.2
Black Earth	Loamy	1.0-1.3	1.2-1.3	1.0-1.3

The ratio of equilibrium and optimum densities allows to determine the necessity of tillage, its intensity and depth. Thus, at plowing sod-podzolic soil its density decreases from 1.4-1.5 to 0.8-0.9 g/cm³.

Density depends on granulometric composition, humus, quantity of water-resistant aggregates and moisture.

With a heavy granulometric composition with a large proportion of silt fraction and humus soils are subjected to significant swelling in moisture and loosening, which leads to a change in the equilibrium and optimal density.

Black earth soils with high humus content have an equilibrium density of 1.0-1.3 g/cm³ that coincides with the optimum density, which allows reducing the intensity and depth of tillage. Optimal conditions for the emergence of seedlings of cereal crops, as well as reducing moisture evaporation, are in the black earth heavy loamy soils with the density of the upper 7 cm layer of 0.98-1.04 g/cm³ and the bottom at a depth of 7-30 cm – 1.18-1.20 g/cm³.To achieve this combination of densities, a combination of different deep moldboard and non-moldboard tillage with surface tillage is used.

The use of heavy tillage machines and transport vehicles leads to strong compaction up to 1.35-1.55 g/cm³, which deteriorates the physical and mechanical properties. That, for example, affects the germination of winter wheat seeds, which decreases from 81.1 to 60.7%. In turn, over-consolidation causes the need for deep loosening with non-moldboard, chisel implements, plows for deep loosening and other aggregates.

The structure of the arable layer

Soil structure – the ratio of solid phase, capillary and non-capillary porosity. Optimal conditions for plant growth and development are found in sod-podzol medium-loam soil with total porosity of 46-56%, noncapillary porosity – 18-25%, capillary porosity – 28-31%, and the proportion of solid phase 44-54% of soil volume.

For black earth soils optimal conditions are formed at total porosity of 51-62% and aeration porosity – 15-25%. Ultimate porosity of stable aeration, at which a decrease in grain yields is observed, is – 13-15% of soil volume. At the same time, the oxygen content in the wetted soil is not less than 20%, and CO₂ is not more than 0.2-0.5%.

Treatment allows to improve the structure of the arable layer: loosening in the main and pre-sowing treatments allows to increase non-capillary porosity, and compaction of excessively loose – to reduce non-capillary porosity and reduce aeration.

Creating an optimal model of the fertility of the arable layer allows the most favorable soil regimes, which contributes to higher crop yields. Modeling of homogeneous and heterogeneous state of arable layer of sod-podzolic soil with different thickness of arable horizon showed that potatoes, corn and other field crops respond positively to heterogeneous composition of soil profile, in which in the upper 20 cm due to fertilizers and lime more optimal agrophysical and agrochemical properties are created.

Yield increase of field crops under heterogeneous structure of arable layer and introduction of high doses of fertilizers at the depth up to 20 cm for 15 years increased from 3,8 to 9,7 thousand feed units per 1 ha compared with unfertilized background. In conditions of homogeneous structure – from 3.4 to 8.9 thousand fodder units per 1 hectare. Fertilizer application on the depth up to 40 cm reduced the yield in fodder units by 10,8%, which indicates the mixing of arable layer with soil of eluvial horizon characterized by low natural fertility and not allowing to restore fertility to the initial level even for 15 years period.

Table. Yields of field crops depending on the structure of 0-40 cm layer of sod-podzolic soil, t/ha^[2]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Crop	Years	Heterogeneous structure	Homogeneous structure	Heterogeneous structure	Homogeneous structure
		Without fertilizer		Manure+NPK
Potatoes	1975-1989	12.18	12.10	29.39	27.21
Vetch-oat mixture (hay)	1976-1978	3.22	2.96	6.08	5.66
Corn for silage	1980-1988	24.38	21.30	71.38	62.80
Average for 15 years, thousand fodder units per 1 ha		3.8	3.4	9.7	8.9

Other indicators

Soil structure depends on the content of water-resistant aggregates, its stability against erosion and compaction, affects soil regimes and determines the productivity of crops.

The optimum content of water resistant macrostructure, i.e. aggregates of 0.25-10 mm and more for gray forest and sod-podzolic soils is 30-45%, for chernozem soils – 45-60%. This structure allows for a long time to keep a stable structure, given to it by processing. Structured soil loses its positive properties when the amount of dust particles less than 0.25 mm in size increases to 30-40%.

The proportion of humus in the upper 10 cm layer is higher than in the depth of 10-20 cm. In the upper layer, structure restoration is faster due to the accumulation of crop residues and fertilizers. Turnover of the soil layer during plowing contributes to the structuring of the lower part of the arable layer.

Crop requirements to the degree of crumbling is determined by the granulometric composition, texture, degree of moisture, biological characteristics of the crop and the risk of erosion. For example, for grain crops in the Non-Black Soil Zone degree of crumbling, that is, the proportion of lumps with a diameter of 0.25-30 mm, sod-podzolic and gray forest soils must be at least 80% and clumpiness – no more than 20%.

Soil hardness is a property that has a strong influence on growth and root penetration. When heavily compacted when dried and the hardness increases to critical values of more than 10 kg/cm² for grain crops, leads to reduced root growth and increased energy expenditure of plants to overcome the resistance of the soil. Deep loosening facilitates root penetration into the deep layers, which is especially important for the formation of root crops in sugar beets, carrots and potato tubers.

Soil protection tillage

Modern tillage systems in landscape farming systems have requirements for erosion protection and energy saving. On slope lands with the risk of water erosion, special soil-protective technologies on the basis of deep non-moldboard loosening, chiseling, slotting, intermittent furrowing and contour ploughing with making ridges, holes, etc. are applied. Application of these methods allows to reduce 2-2,5 times melt water and storm water runoff and 2,5-11 times soil washout. The efficiency of mineral fertilizers application increases by 10-12% and grain yield increases by 0,15-0,2 t/ha.

In the steppe and forest-steppe zones, where soils are prone to wind erosion, the soil-protective system includes mulching, strip-till and other minimum tillage with the use of loosening, but not overturning layer of working tools of machines, such as subsurface (flat-cut), chisels, paraplau, SibIME racks, direct-seeded seeders that keep stubble and stubble residues on the surface.

Agrochemical basics

Basic tillage influences the distribution of organic matter, fertilizers, availability of mineral elements, processes of humification of plant residues and nitrogen fixation.

More phosphorus and potassium accumulate in the upper 10-cm layer. The high content of organic matter contributes to structuring and good absorption properties. This is due to the localization of phosphorus and potassium in the upper layers due to organic and mineral fertilizers. One thing, the application of excessive doses of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers can exceed the allowable load on the soil and the root system of plants, which leads to a decrease in fertility and crop yields.

At the same time, the concentration of nutrients in the upper layer with shallow surface treatments leads to depletion of the deeper layers of the root zone. Under unfavorable conditions, such as the surface layer drying out in the absence of precipitation, nutrients become unavailable. Deep periodic plowing in the crop rotation avoids these negative phenomena, which ensures the turning and mixing of the soil layers. In addition, the concentration of crop residues, which leads to the accumulation of toxic substances in the soil of decomposition products, is eliminated, except on lands at risk of erosion.

The widespread use of chemical crop protection agents necessitates the use of intensive tillage systems that aim to improve aeration and accelerate deactivation of pesticides such as promethrin.

Biological bases

Soil fertility is largely determined by the activity of biological processes, so tillage aimed at improving the living conditions of soil microflora contributes to improving fertility. In particular, loosening improves aeration, normalizes the soil water regime, and increases the number of saprophytic organisms.

Reducing the intensity and depth of loosening leads to a slowdown in the mineralization of humus matter, which is a key factor in soil fertility. Thus, replacement of plowing with non-moldboard subsurface flat-cut tillage increases the humification of organic matter by 20-30%, on light loamy soils by 40%. Liming of acidic soils shifts the process of synthesis of humus compounds in the direction of formation of the most valuable of them.

The depth and method of tillage affect the phytosanitary potential of the soil and its weed infestation. Thus, the annual subsurface flat-cut tillage during 5-7 years increases the damage of oats by root rot by 6,9-8,3%, of barley – by 11,3-12,4%, the weediness – by 2 times. This fact leads to the necessity of alternation of non-moldboard tillage with deep tillage in crop rotations.

Fallow, half fallow and autumn tillage systems are means to improve the phytosanitary state of the soil and crops. For example, a timely system of autumn tillage serves to reduce the number of wireworms and cereal aphids. Stubble flaking and autumn plowing with a plough with a skimmer allows deep embedding of weed seeds, stubble, and together with them the larvae of Swedish and Hessian flies, caterpillars of winter moths. This kills spores of linear and brown rust, infection, root rot, septoriosis. Deepening of the arable layer, ploughing, and tillage in dry conditions reduces the weediness of fields, improves moisture supply to plants, and accelerates their growth.

Technological operations of tillage

Cutting and separating

Soil cutting by knives occurs in the vertical (Fig., I) and horizontal (Fig., II) planes. Vertical cutting produces no chips, while horizontal cutting produces and separates chips.

Separation of the layer from the soil mass occurs after it is cut (cut off) in the horizontal, inclined or vertical plane. The layer (Fig., III) in cross-section has the shape of a rectangle, triangle or other geometric figure.

Turning

Turning (overturning) is a technological operation of tillage in which there is a mutual movement in vertical direction of soil layers or horizons. Turning is rotation of soil layer in transverse plane and change of mutual vertical position of upper and lower soil layers.

The layer rotation can be complete, i.e. by angle β = 180° (Fig., I), and partial – 90° < β < 180°. Reservoir turnover by an angle of up to 135° is called a take-off (Fig., II). Rotation of the layer, where a part of the sod layer is cut off and dumped to the bottom of the furrow, is called cultural plowing (Fig. III).

When overturning, turf, plant residues, fertilizers, crumbled seeds and vegetative organs of reproduction of weeds, pathogens of diseases and pests of crops are incorporated. The necessity of overturning is caused by differentiation of arable soil by fertility, which can be strongly pronounced in humid areas with low farming culture.

Under the influence of plants, fertilizers, light, microorganisms, treatment, the top layer becomes more structured, biogenic and fertile compared to the lower layers. It contains more humus, nutrients and microorganisms. Overturning improves the fertility indicators of the lower part of the arable layer, especially it is affected by fertilizers and ameliorants. It is also promoted by the involvement of silty and finely dispersed fractions of the soil in the arable layer. On heavy, overwatered soils, overturning reduces the harmful effect of sour compounds on plants.

Overturning is not carried out in arid conditions and areas with wind erosion, as it intensifies negative processes.

The overturning is carried out by mouldboard ploughs, polydisk tiller and other implements. Turf, weeds, stubble and root residues are best incorporated during the plowing of plows with skimmers.

Loosening

Loosening is a technological operation, which changes the size and relative position of soil clods or aggregates with the formation of larger pores. Loosening helps to increase non-capillary porosity, soil aeration, water and air permeability, improve thermal regime and activity of soil microflora, increase availability of moisture and nutrients, facilitate root penetration into deep soil layers and drought tolerance. Tillage crops are the most sensitive to loosened soil condition, to a lesser extent – crops of continuous sowing.

The degree of loosening is estimated by the ratio of the thickness a₂ of the loosened layer to its original thickness a₁. At loosening the ratio a₂/a₁ > 1.

Surface loosening allows you to destroy the soil crust to create a mulch layer. Loosening is carried out by passive and active working tools: mouldboard and disk ploughs, cultivators, stubble ploughs, harrows, mills, rotary hoes, etc. It is carried out on depth from 3 to 50 cm and more. For loosening the subsoil layer without wrapping, ploughs with deepeners and ploughs with cut-out bodies are used.

Crumbling

Crumbling is a technological operation that crushes large lumps and clumps into smaller ones. As a rule, it is carried out simultaneously with other operations.

Crumbling reduces moisture evaporation, accelerates emergence of seedlings and stimulates plant growth, and ensures uniform seed embedding. Disc harrows, rollers, etc. are used for crumbling.

Mixing

Soil mixing involves changing the mutual arrangement of soil particles, crop residues, fertilizers, and trace elements. Mixing allows to create a homogeneous tilled layer of soil with uniform distribution of products of decomposition of organic matter, fertilizer.

This technique is especially important for plowing the less fertile subsoil layer. Mixing the soil with lime or gypsum increases the effectiveness of these techniques and improves the availability of nutrients to plants.

Over-mixing is carried out simultaneously with loosening and overturning with ploughs without skimmers, mouldboard and disk stubble ploughs and soil cutters.

Compaction

Compaction changes the mutual arrangement of soil particles with the formation of smaller pores. Compaction is an inverse process to loosening. Compaction is a₂/a₁ < 1. Soil compaction reduces non-capillary porosity, increases the volume of smaller capillary pores, and results in closer contact between seed and soil.

In conditions of insufficient moisture compaction reduces soil aeration and moisture evaporation. It is performed during seedbed preparation and after sowing. In both cases, this method promotes better contact of seeds (especially small ones) with the soil and improves water inflow from the lower layers. Under conditions of lack of heat in the spring, compacted soil warms up better. Sometimes it is used for crushing large clods and in the treatment of loose peaty soils.

Compaction is carried out by rollers with different working surface and other implements.

Surface leveling

Leveling the soil surface is a technological operation to eliminate unevenness of the soil surface. It is necessary to reduce moisture losses for moisture evaporation, to prepare the plot for irrigation, to sow seeds evenly, to perform quality work of seeding, harvesting machines and plant care.

Surface leveling is carried out by float, scrubber, harrows, rollers, mala (heavy scrubber). In conditions of irrigated agriculture graders, bulldozers and levelers are used.

Cutting weeds

Cutting weeds is an agrotechnical method of weed control. It is carried out simultaneously with loosening, overturning and mixing the soil during plowing, cultivation, husking or using special knife, boom, cultivators, as well as special cultivators with double-sided or single-sided razor blades.

Creating micro-relief

Creation of micro-relief, such as furrows, ridges, slots, holes, microlimans, etc. on the soil surface. This technique is necessary to regulate and create the most optimal water, air, nutrient, thermal regimes on sloping lands subjected to water erosion. Microrelief prevents water runoff and along with it soil washing away. The furrows help to divert excessive water. To create micro-relief use furrow breakers, sweep hilling, ridge breakers adapted to plows, hole breakers, and slitters.

In areas with insufficient moisture to increase the amount of water in the soil at the expense of autumn and winter precipitation and spring meltwater microrelief is created by intermittent furrowing of autumn arable land, trenching, slotting, etc.

When stubble is retained on the soil surface under conditions of erosion risk, the use of flat-cut cultivators, needle harrows, stubble seeders, deep subsurface flat-cut deep tillers, etc.

Soil physical and mechanical properties and their influence on tillage quality

Physical and mechanical properties – properties of soil, characterizing the physical state and relationship to external and internal mechanical influences:

hardness,
cohesiveness,
plasticity,
stickiness,
physical ripeness,
swellability,
shrinkage, etc.

Physical and mechanical properties determine the quality of technological operations of soil processing and the degree of its deformation during the operation of agricultural machinery.

They have a significant impact on the conditions of plant growth and development and depend on moisture, granulometric composition, content of organic matter and composition of absorbed cations.

Hardness

Hardness is the property of soil in natural conditions to resist the action of wedging forces. Hardness is affected by humidity, texture, and granulometric composition. Hardness increases with drying. High hardness negatively affects the growth of plant roots, increases energy costs for processing and wear and tear of working elements of machinery.

The unit of measurement of soil hardness is N/cm² or kg/cm². To determine soil hardness, first measure with density meters the resistance force of soil to vertical penetration into it by the tip of the device of various shapes (plunger, cone, ball, cylinder), and then divide this force by the cross-sectional area of the penetrated body.

Black earth and structured soils have the least hardness. Optimal hardness of black earth at moisture content 0.7 of the lowest moisture content for grain crops is 7-9.9 kg/cm², for corn – 5.2-7.2 kg/cm², for potatoes – up to 5 kg/cm².

Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is the property of soil to resist loosening action. Heavy clay soils and solonetz in a dry state have the greatest cohesion, which is manifested in poor crumbling, clumpiness and increased energy costs for tillage. When wet, these soils adhere strongly to the working tools of machines. Light and well-structured soils have the least cohesion, which allows to handle them in a wide range of moisture.

The cohesiveness increases resistance to erosion.

Plasticity

Plasticity is the ability of the soil in the wet state to change and retain the shape under the action of external forces and deform without the formation of cracks. Plasticity depends on the granulometric composition, the composition of the colloidal fraction and absorbed cations, humus content. Plasticity is manifested in a certain range of soil moisture. Upper limit of plasticity is determined by lower limit of fluidity.

Lower limit of plasticity is manifested at humidity, at which the soil passes from semi-solid consistency to viscoplastic consistency, such as rolling out into a cord. The ratio between the upper and lower limits of plasticity is measured by the number of plasticity, equal to 0 to 7 for sandy loam soils, 7 to 17 for loamy soils, and more than 17 for clay soils. The most plastic soils are clayey, loamy and solonetz soils.

Stickiness

Stickiness of soils characterizes the ability of its particles to stick and adhere to the working bodies and wheels of agricultural machinery. It is manifested when a certain level of soil moisture is exceeded.

Stickiness is measured in N/cm². To determine the stickiness of the soil the force required to tear off the steel plate stuck to the soil is divided by the sticking area.

Stickiness depends on humidity and dispersity of soil. At constant normal pressure, stickiness grows with increase of soil humidity up to maximum value, and then, as a result of increase of water film thickness on sticking surface, it decreases. Stickiness of implements increases with increase of soil dispersibility (atomization).

Clayey soils have the highest stickiness. In atomized, i.e. unstructured, soil stickiness begins to appear at relative humidity of 40-50%, whereas in structured soil – at 60-70%. Therefore, it is necessary to preserve and restore the soil structure, which creates optimal fertility conditions and reduces stickiness of implements.

To reduce stickiness, measures aimed at increasing fertility and restructuring are promoted: application of organic fertilizers, liming or plastering, drainage of over-moistened areas, covering surfaces of working tools with polymeric materials, use of slatting blades on plough bodies, etc.

Physical ripeness

Physical ripeness is an optimal interval of moisture for tillage, at which physical and mechanical properties have the best qualities for carrying out technological operations.

For loamy soils physical ripeness corresponds to 40-60% of the smallest moisture capacity, for light soils – 40-70% of the smallest moisture capacity. In view of compaction under the action of heavy machinery processing is accepted to conduct at 60-70% of the smallest moisture capacity.

High quality of processing with the least traction resistance is achieved with 14-18% moisture.

Carrying out processing of dry soil is undesirable because of poor crumbling, strong clumping, dispersion and compaction.

The best quality of loosening is reached when the soil is physically ripe in the spring to the depth of harrowing and cultivation of 6-10 cm, in the spring plowing – 16-20 cm.

Tillage of unripe soils increases traction force and fuel consumption: on dry soils – because of increased cohesion, and on over-wet soils – because of increased stickiness.

Humidity determines the choice of tillage implements. Disc and milling implements are used for tillage of soils with 2-3% higher moisture content, aggregates with lancet, flat-blade or chisel-like working tools – with lower moisture content.

Increasing movement speed of units, for example, when plowing, up to 2.50-3.33 m/s the interval of optimum moisture is extended and the soil is allowed to handle at moisture 18-20% of the smallest moisture capacity, without compromising the quality of crumbling.

Optimal humidity corresponding to physical ripeness, in which the compaction effect of heavy agricultural machinery is minimal for the black earth soils is in the range of 15-24% of the smallest moisture capacity, sod-podzolic – 12-21% of the smallest moisture capacity, gray forests – 15-23% of the smallest moisture capacity.

Table. Intervals of soil moisture for quality tillage (by Pronin), %^[3]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Type of soil	Moisture limit		Moisture interval
	lower (clumping)	top (sticking)	agrotechnically permissible for tillage	for high quality machining and least resistance
Sod-podzolic	11	22	12-21	15-18
Grey forests	14	24	15-23	17-18
Black Earths	13	25	15-24	15-18
Chestnut	12	24	13-23	14-16
Chestnut saline	12	21	13-20	16-17
Grey-brown and brown	13	21	14-20	15-17
Gray earths	14	21	12-24	-

Sliding friction

The sliding friction of the soil on the surface of the implement is called external friction. It is estimated by the force F of resistance of the soil to movement on the working surface. This force is proportional to the force of normal soil pressure on the implement:

F = fN.

The coefficient of proportionality f, or friction coefficient, depends primarily on the particle size distribution and moisture content of the soil. On sandy granular soils the coefficient by steel varies from 0.25 to 0.35; on sandy loamy soils from 0.5 to 0.7; on medium loamy soils from 0.6 to 0.9.

From the production point of view, friction during plowing is a negative factor. Force of friction on ploughshare and mouldboard surface makes 30-40% of total resistance of plough.

Several methods are used to reduce friction:

the use of vibration and active working tools;
creation of boundary layer of water and air over contact surface of soil with working body;
polishing the moldboards, covering them with different materials;
changing the geometry of the working elements;
replacement of soil sliding by rolling on rollers.

Resistance to deformation

Resistance to deformation characterizes the strength of the soil. When cultivating the soil with different working tools it experiences deformation of compression, tension, shear, torsion and their combinations. Temporal resistance of soil (before crumbling) under different types of deformation varies within a wide range. So, loamy soil at absolute moisture of 21-28% has temporary resistance to tension 5-6 kPa, shear 10-12 kPa, compression 65-108 kPa. Therefore, loosening the soil with minimum energy consumption is possible with the use of working tools, providing stretching of the soil layer.

Abrasiveness of soil

Abrasiveness of soil is evaluated by its content of physical sand with a large number of stony inclusions of 0.25-3 mm in size, which are the cause of increased abrasion (wear) of working tools.

According to the criterion of abrasion wear soils are subdivided into groups:

with low wear ability with sand content up to 80 %;
medium wear capacity with sand content up to 80-95%; – medium wear capacity with sand content up to 80-95%;
increased wear ability with sand content up to 95-100%.

Abrasive wear of blades at ploughing 1 ha of soils of the first group makes 2-30 g, of the second group – 30-100 g, of the third group – 100-450 g.

Specific soil resistance

Specific soil resistance is a generalized characteristic of the difficulty of tillage. The coefficient K_c of soil resistance during plowing is determined by measuring the traction resistance of the plough P and dividing it by the cross-sectional area of the lifted layer:

K_c = P / (abn),

where a – ploughing depth, cm; b – width of body penetration, cm; n – number of bodies.

According to the specific resistance of the soil are divided into:

light (K_c< 3 N/cm²);
medium (K_c = 3-5 N/cm²);
medium – heavy (K_c = 5-7 N/cm²);
heavy (K_c = 7-12 N/cm²);
very heavy (K_c > 12 N/cm²).

Soil resistance coefficients for cultivation, harrowing, packing and other similar operations are determined by dividing the traction resistance of the machine by its working width.

Interaction of wedge with soil

According to geometrical form, working elements of plough and other tillage implements are made as flat or curvilinear wedges. Flat wedges include ploughshares, knives, cultivator tines, harrow teeth; curvilinear wedges include spherical discs of harrows, huskers, plough blades, and ridgers. The wedge shape is also characteristic of seeders and planters coulters.

Flat wedge

The soil is deformed under the influence of the flat wedge, the character of which depends on the technological properties of the soil and the angle α of the wedge against the horizontal.

Low cohesion soils. The main type of deformation of low cohesion soils is shear. When the wedge moves from position I to position II, soil particles a, б (Fig., a) are pressed into the not yet deformed mass and pass into position a’, б’, i.e. the material is compacted. The buckling stress at point a is greater than at point б, because аа’ > бб’. As soon as the buckling stress exceeds the temporary shear resistance of the soil, the shear plane OA appears in front of the wedge’s blade, directed at an angle ψ to the furrow’s bottom, and a prism-like block OABa’ is detached from the bed.

After shearing, the blocks slide along the surface of the flat wedge without undergoing new deformations, and therefore do not disintegrate. The size of the clumps that break off depends on the thickness of the formation, i.e. the depth of processing. A thin layer breaks up into smaller clumps than a thick one.

Medium- and highly cohesive (loamy and clayey) soils of optimum moisture content. At the very beginning of the introduction of the wedge, the ОС crack is formed (Fig., б), which expands, and the АОС element is detached from the stratum. During further movement (from position I to position II) the wedge at first cuts a chip of variable thickness along the line ОО’ (it clears the bottom of the furrow), then it forms a new crack О’С’ and tears off the next layer element.

Hard and dry soils. The fracture extends downward (Fig., в), so the bottom turns out uneven, and the detached clump of the stratum turns out irregularly shaped.

Strongly sodded and moist loamy soils break in a wedge along the line of blade movement. The cracks arising in the bending of the layer do not reach the surface, thus the layer is not divided into separate elements and represents a continuous band (Fig., г).

Curvilinear wedge

The surface of the curvilinear wedge continuously deforms the formation (Fig., д), and it disintegrates into small parts.

The deformation of the formation is influenced by the intensity of change (increase) of the angle α along the height of the wedge. The greater is the difference between the angles α₁ and α₂, the stronger is the formation crumbling. However, at α = 45-50° the soil ceases to slide upwards on the working surface and, instead, is huddled in front of the wedge.

Two-sided wedge

Depending on direction of movement and location of blade in relation to horizontal and vertical planes the character of influence of dihedral wedge on the ground changes.

Dihedral wedge with an angle α (Fig., I) separates the layer from the bottom of the furrow, lifts it, compresses it in the vertical plane and splits it into separate clumps.

The dihedral wedge with angle γ (Fig., II) separates the layer from the furrow wall, moves it aside and compresses it in the horizontal plane.

The simultaneous action of wedges with angles α and γ contributes to the destruction of the formation in two directions. Further crumbling of the chipped pieces during their movement along the surface of the wedges stops, since the angles α and γ have a constant value. For more intense crumbling of the layer set one after another a number of simple wedges with gradually increasing angles α and γ, ie a simple flat wedge is replaced by a curved one.

A dihedral wedge with an angle β (Fig., III) tilts the formation sideways. However, to transfer layer from horizontal to inclined position, it is necessary not one but a number of wedges with increasing from 0 to 90° angle β, arranged one after another. For reservoir turnover, the angle should be more than 90°.

Three-sided wedge

The triangular wedge allows to replace the influence of three dihedral wedges acting successively on the formation. The trihedral wedge is an AMBO tetrahedron (figure above, IV) with three mutually perpendicular faces BOM, AOM and AOB. When the trihedral wedge moves along the x-axis, edge AB cuts the soil layer from the bottom of the furrow, edge BM cuts it from the furrow wall, and edge ABM takes the layer aside, crumbles it and turns it around.

If the angles α, γ and β are continuously changed in height, the flat trihedral wedge is transformed into a curvilinear surface. The impact of such a surface on the formation depends on its location relative to the bottom and wall of the furrow and the intensity of change (development) of angles α, γ and β along the height. If the angle α is strongly developed, the formation is crumbling intensively; if the angle γ is developed, the formation is more shifted to the side; if the angle β is strongly developed, the working surface well wraps the formation. Such surfaces, called “mouldboards”, are used on ploughs, ploughs, furrow cutters, ridgers, bulldozers and other machines, the working process of which is connected with movement of soil or soils.

Tillage methods

Tillage methods are divided into:

methods of main tillage;
methods of surface and shallow tillage;
special methods of tillage;
seeding;
post-sowing tillage, or plant care.

Main tillage is deep and continuous tillage carried out for a particular crop of crop rotation and changing the density of the arable layer and mixing layers or horizons of soil.

The main tillage methods include plowing, non-moldboard tillage, chiseling, subsurface flat-cut tillage and milling.

Shallow tillage – tillage to a depth of 8-10 to 16-18 cm. Surface tillage – tillage to a depth of 8-10 cm.

Surface and shallow tillage allow to prepare the soil for sowing, take care of fallows and plants, destroy weeds and create conditions for tillage at higher speeds and quality harvesting.

Surface and shallow tillage techniques include: disking (husking), cultivation, hilling, harrowing, rolling, leveling.

The methods of special tillage include: two- and three-level plowing, plantation plowing, slotting, mole cutting.

Post-sowing tillage is a complex of practices of crop care, aimed at creating favorable conditions for the germination of seeds, the emergence of seedlings and provide optimal conditions for plant growth and development.

Post-sowing tillage techniques include: rolling, pre- and post-growing harrowing, inter-row loosening, hilling and thinning.

Tillage system

Main article: Arable farming: Tillage system

Tillage system is a set of scientifically justified methods of soil treatment, consistently performed during the cultivation of a crop or in the fallow field of crop rotation, to ensure optimal soil conditions for plant growth and development.

Tillage systems regulate soil regimes and phytosanitary conditions, increase the thickness of the arable layer, and prevent the development of erosion. Tillage methods may consist of one or more technological operations, for example, chiseling allows loosening, crumbling and partially mixing the soil.

The tillage system determines the farming culture of the field and, as a consequence, the level of fertility and crop yields. The tillage system must be soil-protective, energy-saving, economically justified and environmentally friendly. Fulfillment of these requirements is connected with reasonable choice and optimum combination of applied machines, their correct adjustment and aggregation.

The choice of techniques that make up a particular tillage system is determined by landscape conditions, soil type and condition, zonal climatic features, weediness of fields, preceding crops and their biological characteristics, the fertilizer system in the crop rotation. It should provide optimal timing and high quality of work.

Currently the following systems of mechanical processing are used:

The tillage system for spring crops is determined by the preceding crop, e.g. annual non-row crops of continuous seeding, row crops, seeded perennial grasses, bare or strip fallows, tillage for intermediate crops and after their harvesting.
Tillage system for winter crops includes tillage of bare, strip or seeded fallows and tillage after non-fallow predecessors

Crop-specific tillage systems are combined into technological complexes or systems of tillage in the rotation.

In addition to the above, depending on soil and climatic conditions and cultivation technology of crops can be used mouldboard, no-till and tier systems.

The mouldboard system provides turnover of the soil layer, which provides embedding of crop residues, seeds of weeds and pathogens in the deeper arable layers. In this case the crop residues are quickly decomposed by aerobic microorganisms with the formation of mineral compounds, and weeds, pest larvae and pathogens are killed. The no-till system is widely used in areas of sufficient and excessive moisture.

The no-mouldboard system eliminates the turnover of the soil layer, instead, deep loosening is carried out with preservation of the stubble, protecting the soil from wind erosion. This system of tillage is used in steppe areas where there is a high risk of erosion processes, as well as in areas with insufficient moisture as a way to accumulate and store moisture in the soil.

The tiered system is accompanied by separate cultivation of the upper, middle and lower layers of soil having a pronounced tier structure. For example, when cultivating saline soils, the upper layer is wrapped and the second and third layers are loosened and mixed.

Depending on the number of treatments there are intensive, minimal and no-till systems.

Intensive system includes several technological processes in preparation of the soil for sowing, accompanied by multiple passes of aggregates, compaction and loosening of the soil.

Minimal system involves reducing the number of treatments and their depth, the combination of several technological processes in one pass of the unit. This system is used in different areas to reduce compaction and spraying of the soil by tractor engines and wheels of agricultural machinery, and reduce the time of preparation of the soil.

In some cases, not the entire surface of the field is cultivated, but only narrow strips, in which the seeds are then sown. Such tillage is called zero tillage. Tillage accompanied by covering its surface with plant residues is called mulching.

Tillage with formation of water-retaining microrelief (furrows, wells, etc.) or leaving and preservation of wind-retaining crop residues on the surface of arable land is called anti-erosion tillage.

Minimum tillage

Main article: Arable farming: Minimum tillage

In the conditions of ecological soil-protective farming more economical energy-saving technologies of minimum tillage are widespread.

Minimum tillage is scientifically grounded tillage, which provides reduction of energy and labor costs by reducing the number, depth and cultivated area of the field, combining and performing several technological operations in one working process.

Deepening and cultivation of the arable layer of different soil types

Main article: Arable farming: Deepening and cultivation of the arable layer of different soil types

Deepening and cultivation of the arable layer is one of the urgent tasks of farming. Deeper arable layer allows to accumulate more moisture, organic matter, increase the zone of active activity of soil microorganisms and availability of nutrients.

Increasing the thickness of the arable layer and improving its physical properties and aeration during deepening contribute to it:

Deeper penetration of the plant root system into the lower soil layers.
Water accumulation in the soil from precipitation and melt water.
Increases soil porosity and air capacity, and improves gas exchange.
Effective control of weeds, diseases and pests.
Loosening of the subsoil horizon and destruction of the plow pan.
Reduced soil deformation and greater resistance to overcompaction under the influence of the driving systems of tractors, tillage implements and transport vehicles.
Sustainable functioning of the agro-ecosystem due to the potential increase of organic matter and energy accumulation in the soil.

Tilling of soils prone to water erosion

Main article: Arable farming: Tilling of soils prone to water erosion

The cause of water erosion is the runoff of rainwater and meltwater, which washes away and erodes the arable layer and destroys soil fertility. Water streams carry away the most valuable silt and colloidal fractions of soil, soluble humus and nutrients.

The main tasks of tillage of soils subject to water erosion are:

imparting a fine crumbly structure and friable soil condition to improve water permeability and moisture absorption;
creating a certain micro-relief on the slope surface;
reducing soil washout with surface water runoff and its accumulation in the soil;
deepening of the arable layer;
destruction of plow pan.

Erosion control techniques can be divided into two groups:

techniques increasing water permeability and filtering water;
methods that create micro-relief on the surface to retain water runoff and soil washout.

Tillage of soils prone to wind erosion

Main article: Arable farming: Tillage of soils prone to wind erosion

The causes of wind erosion are high wind speed at the soil surface, a high degree of dispersion with weakly structured topsoil, its low moisture content, and the lack of protective vegetative cover. Soil erosion often occurs on cultivated lands whose tillage technology does not match the landscape conditions.

The tasks of erosion control tillage include:

loosening the soil while keeping the maximum amount of stubble and other plant residue on its surface;
Creation of optimal conditions for moisture accumulation and retention in the soil;
Avoiding soil dispersion and increasing soil aeration by minimizing tillage.
The stubble left on the field surface reduces the wind speed in the surface layer to 3-4 m/s, thus preventing the soil from being blown out. In winter it allows to retain snow, contributes to the accumulation of moisture, in the hot summer period it reduces its evaporation.

Academician A.I. Barayev laid theoretical foundations of anti-erosion tillage of soils subjected to wind erosion, which are as follows:

Soils resistant to wind erosion should be classified as soils, the content in the top layer of which is more than 50% of structural aggregates with a size of more than 1 mm.
Covering more than 40% of soil surface with crop residues and stubble allows reducing wind speed in the surface layer up to 3-4 m/sec, which reduces moisture evaporation, increases soil moistening and, as a result, increases wind resistance.

Based on these principles, the anti-erosion tillage is based on subsurface flat-cutting without overturning with retention of most of the stubble on the field surface.

Tillage of meliorated land

Main article: Arable farming: Tillage of meliorated land

Meliorated land includes irrigated and drained soils, as well as soils of radical and surface improvement of hayfields, meadows and pastures. Technologies of cultivation of these lands have a number of features and are determined by crops of crop rotation, weed infestation, methods of reclamation, level of fertility.

Evaluation of the quality of fieldwork

Main article: Arable farming: Evaluation of the quality of fieldwork

Quality of fieldwork – the degree of compliance of quality parameters and timing of the actual performance of individual techniques with the requirements of standards or agrotechnical requirements. The quality of field work determines the yield of crops.

Quality of field work depends on the technical condition of tillage and seeding units, proper adjustment, quality of previous treatments, soil conditions, timing of work and other conditions.

Violation of agrotechnical requirements for tillage leads to:

deterioration of growth and development conditions of cultivated plants;
lower yields;
reducing the effectiveness of fertilizers and chemical plant protection products;
reduction in the effectiveness of land reclamation;
the possibility of the development of soil erosion;
reduction of soil fertility.

As a consequence, it is necessary to organize permanent control over the quality of field works and, in particular, over the quality of performance of individual methods of tillage.

The quality of performance of an individual technique of tillage, sowing and others is determined by a set of indicators characterizing the degree of suitability of soil for optimal growth of plants and performance of subsequent technological operations.

Current problems of tillage

Problems of energy conservation and soil compaction

Main article: Arable farming: Problems of energy conservation and soil compaction

Tillage is the most energy-intensive and expensive technological method of farming. Currently, it accounts for up to 40% of energy and 25% of labor costs of the total field work for growing and harvesting crops. To estimate, if we recalculate all tillage practices for plowing, 6,000 tons of soil is moved on each hectare annually.

Environmental problems

Intensification of agriculture leads to disruption of the dynamic equilibrium in the ecological system soil – plant – atmosphere, changes in the biogeochemical cycle of substances and energy in the biosphere. Mechanical tillage leads to the destruction of soil zoocenoses, worm and root passages, zonation is reduced, the ability of the soil to loosen itself is reduced. Frequent mechanical tillage accelerates the microbiological processes of mineralization of organic matter, which negatively affects the soil structure and leads to significant unproductive losses of nutrients and moisture. According to the data of the All-Russian Research Institute of Agriculture and Soil Protection from Erosion, the existing technology of soil treatment for 30-40 years has led to a decrease in humus content in the arable layer of black earth soils by 0.8-1.1%, in the slopes – by more than 3.5%.

On average in Russia at intensive plowing about 1 ton of humus per 1 hectare is mineralized annually in the arable layer, which is equal to the loss of 10 tons of soil at 2.5% of humus content.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Fundamentals of Agronomy: Tutorial/Y.V. Evtefeev, G.M. Kazantsev. – M.: FORUM, 2013. – 368 p.: ill.

Agricultural machinery. Khalansky V.M., Gorbachev I.V. – M.: KolosS, 2004. – 624 p.: ill. – (Textbooks and tutorials for students of higher education institutions).

Soil-protective crop rotations

26.11.2021

Soil-protective crop rotations are those intended to protect soils from water erosion on slopes of more than 5°, where soil wash-out can reach 15 t/ha per year, and wind erosion, for example in open steppe, where wind speed near surface is more than 3-4 m/s.

In modern agrolandscape farming systems, crop rotations are required to ensure soil protection and conservation functions, especially on lands at risk of water or wind erosion.

Soil-protective crop rotations are based on the properties of some crops to protect the soil from erosion, combined with special methods of tillage and crop placement.

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Crop rotation

Soil protection properties of crops

Different crops have different soil-protective properties, which depend on the density of herbage, the power of plant development, the amount of crop residues left on the surface of the field, the duration of stay in the field, cultivation technology and the impact of crops on soil structure.

Perennial grasses have the greatest soil-protecting ability. Covering the soil during the whole year, they reliably protect it from erosion, although the density of grass stand decreases in autumn, winter and spring periods. It is mainly used for hay and green fodder.

Annual crops, such as cereals and forages, are also capable of protecting soils, although less so than perennial grasses, covering the soil for 9-11 months of the year with a maximum of herbage in May-July. They are supplemented by stubble, post-mowing, and undersowing crops so as not to leave the soil open after the main crop is harvested. Spring cereals only cover the soil for 3 months of the summer and row crops for 1-1.5 months.

Cultivation of row crops that loosen and disperse the soil is avoided if there is a risk of erosion.

The effectiveness of soil protection depends on the mass of plant roots and their distribution in the soil profile. The powerful root system of perennial grasses reliably grips the soil in the upper layers, so that their soil-protective properties appear.

The weight of the root system of perennial grasses may reach 50-60% of the weight of the above-ground part. Winter cereals and corn increase the mass of root system up to 40% of the mass of above-ground part, spring cereals – 28-30%, fiber flax, potatoes, root crops – 18-20%.

According to soil-protecting ability agricultural crops can be divided into three groups:

with high soil-protecting ability – perennial grasses, winter cereals (the latter, sometimes referred to the group with medium soil-protecting ability);
with medium soil-protecting ability – annual grasses, spring cereals;
with poor soil-protecting ability – row crops, technical crops, vegetable crops, bare fallows and fruit plantations.

The given assessment allows to determine the composition and structure of sown areas of soil-protective crop rotations.

If we take the level of complete protection of soil from erosion as a unit, the soil-protecting capacity of crops is distributed as follows:

perennial grasses – 0.91-0.98,
annual grasses – 0.65,
continuous cereals – 0.50-0.65,
potatoes and sunflowers – 0.25
sugar beets and corn – 0.15,
bare fallow – 0.

Building soil-protective crop rotations

The ratio in the structure of crop rotations of row crops and perennial grasses depending on the slope of the slope is determined taking into account their soil-protective role.

The basic principles of the design, introduction and development of soil-protective crop rotations:

detailed consideration and analysis of agronomic features of eroded lands;
selection of crops that provide the most soil-protective and economic effect;
delineation of fields and working plots must comply with technical capabilities in cultivation of crops;
consideration of crop alternation, their compatibility and self-compatibility, compaction and anti-erosion stability of crops;
biological and economic expediency.

If the farm has flat areas and gentle slopes with low gradient and areas at risk of erosion, it is advisable to introduce field, special and on-farm crop rotations with maximum saturation with row crops, whereas on steep slopes and eroded soils – crop rotations in which crops of continuous seeding prevail. On very steep slopes, soil-protective crop rotations with perennial grasses and annual crops of continuous sowing are introduced.

An important method of increasing soil-protective role of crop rotations is strip planting of crops, which is the alternation of strips of crops with different soil-protective ability. This method allows to reduce manifestation of erosion processes, exclude tillage along the slope and create conditions for effective use of soil fertility.

The width of strips is important in determining the anti-erosion effectiveness: the wider the cultivated strip, the less the anti-erosion effect. However, narrow strips make it difficult to carry out field work using machinery.

On fields subject to water erosion, the width of strips is determined depending on the steepness of the slope and possible alternation of crops.

Table. Changes in band width depending on slope steepness (according to Zaslavsky and Kashtanov, 1986)

Slope steepness, degree	Recommended width of strips, m
	alternation of perennial grasses with annual crops	alternation of annual crops with row crops
1-3	100-80	80-60
3-5	80-60	60-40
5-8	60-40	40-20
8-10	40-20	20-10
10-12	20-10	20-10

Strip placement of crops and bare fallow is also used on lands prone to wind erosion. For light soils, it is recommended to alternate grain crops and bare fallow with perennial grasses in 50-100 m (up to 200 m) strips: 1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – wheat, 4-8 – perennial grasses of 1-5 years of use, 9 – wheat, 10 – wheat or forage. The strips are placed at right angles to the direction of prevailing winds.

To combat wind erosion and accumulation of more snow in the steppe regions of Siberia, in addition to non-moldboard tillage, stubble strips with a higher cut or sown strips of sunflower and mustard are left in the fall tillage. According to the data of the experimental institutions of Northern Kazakhstan, the strip fallow accumulates 2-3 times more snow while increasing the yield by 0.4-0.7 t/ha.

In the steppe part of the Northern Caucasus to combat wind erosion bare fallows are replaced by seeded corn with row spacing up to 210 cm. Such fallows protect winter wheat crops.

When determining the width of strips, the granulometric composition of soil, clodding, i.e. content of fractions over 1 mm in the upper layer during erosion hazardous period, average height of stubble or grass, average wind speed during dust storms, and orientation of strips placement are taken into account.

The advantage of strip-till placement is its cost-effectiveness, it does not require large capital expenditures.

When building crop rotations, aimed at protection against water erosion, adhere to the following principle: on flat soils and gentle slopes place crop rotations with saturation of row crops, on slopes of high steepness – crop rotations with saturation of crops with continuous seeding. On steep and eroded slopes, soil-protective crop rotations saturated with perennial grasses up to 75% and more are introduced.

Table. Ratio of areas in the crop rotation (%) of crops with different soil-protecting ability, depending on the steepness of the slope

Slope steepness, deg.	Row crops	Annual crops of continuous sowing	Perennial grasses
up to 1	75	25	-
1-5	50	50	-
5-8	25	50	25
8-12	-	50	50
more than 12	-	25	75

Soil-protective role of crop rotations on sloping lands significantly increases with the introduction of intermediate crops.

Examples of soil-protective crop rotations

Perennial grasses and annual crops in continuous crops prevail in soil-protective crop rotations: 1-4 – perennial grasses of the 1st-4th years of use, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – oats with undersowing of perennial grasses. Perennial grasses are complex grass mixtures consisting of 2-3 legumes and 2-3 cereals.

In the European part of Russia, grass-field and grass-cereal crop rotations are recommended for protection against water erosion on sloping lands with an angle of more than 5°:

for the Non-Black Soil Zone: 1-4 – perennial grasses, 5 – winter rye, 6 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses;
for the forest-steppe zone: 1-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – winter wheat, 5 – corn (in strips), 6 – leguminous, 7 – winter crops with undersowing of perennial grasses;
for the steppe zone: 1-4 – alfalfa, sainfoin, 5 – winter wheat; 6 – corn (in strips); 7 – spring cereals with undersowing of alfalfa and sainfoin.

On slopes of 5-7°, soil-protective crop rotations are applied: 1-4 – perennial grasses; 5 – spring wheat; 6 – spring wheat; 7 – grain forage; 8 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses.

On slopes of 1-5° crop rotations with seeded fallow are applied: 1 – seeded fallow; 2 – spring wheat; 3 – peas; 4 – spring wheat; 5 – oats with undersowing of sweet clover (melilot).

At risk of water erosion on slopes with an angle of more than 7° grass-legume mixtures of perennial grasses, such as awnless brome with alfalfa are grassed.

Under conditions of wind erosion, three-field fodder crop rotations are recommended: 1 – melilot; 2 – spring wheat; 3 – forage crops with undersowing of melilot.

Soil-protective crop rotation was introduced in Kuban: 1-2 – perennial grasses, 3-4 – winter wheat, 5 – barley with undersowing of perennial grasses (alfalfa, haydock, Hungarian sainfoin, awnless bromegrass).

In Samara region of the Middle Volga region sloping lands are protected by the following alternation: 1-4 – perennial grasses (alfalfa, haydock), 5 – spring wheat, 6 – millet, 7 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses.

Seven-field soil-protective crop rotations are recommended for sloping lands of the forest-steppe regions of Tula region: 1-3 – perennial grasses of 1-3 years of use, 4 – winter cereals + stubby sowing of annual grasses, 5 – spring cereals with undersowing of winter vetch, 6 – winter vetch, 7 – winter crops with undersowing of perennial grasses. In this crop rotation about half of the sown area is occupied by mixtures of perennial grasses consisting of legumes and cereals components. The combination of perennial crops in continuous seeding with stubble and under-seeded allows to protect the soil from spring to late autumn.

The Novosilsky zonal agroforestry experimental station in the Orel region has introduced and mastered a seven-year crop rotation: 1-4 – perennial grasses of the 1st-4th years of use, 5 – winter rye for grain, 6 – buckwheat, 7 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses.

Ukrainian Research Institute of Agriculture recommends the following alternation on the sloping lands of the forest-steppe zone: 1 – vetch-oat fallow, 2 – winter crops with subsequent stubby crops, 3 – spring crops with undersowing of perennial grasses, 4-6 – perennial grasses of 1-3 years of use, 7 – winter cereals (sowing in strips combined with strips of grasses left for the 4th year of use) and stubby sowings after harvesting winter ones, 8 – Sudan grass and other annual grasses. The latter are sown in strips across the slope in combination with strips of grasses left in the 5th year of use.

In Western Siberia and Altai soil-protective crop rotation is applied: 1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – forage crops with undersowing of perennial grasses. In the Altai region: 1 – annual grasses with undersowing of wheatgrass or perennial grass mixtures; 2-6 – perennial grasses. Five-field cereal-fallow-grass crop rotations with a strip arrangement across the direction of the prevailing winds are used on moderately eroded lands. Stripes of black fallow and cereals alternate with strips of wheatgrass.

In the conditions of wind erosion risk in the steppe regions and in the east of Russia, the use of perennial grasses with strip planting of crops, especially if they show weak soil-protective functions, such as corn, and strip fallow across the direction of prevailing winds (with wind erosion) or across the slope (with water erosion), as well as horizontally in complex terrain configuration is the basis of soil protective crop rotations.

Crop rotation fields are divided into several equal-area strips, ranging in width from 50 m on light soils to 100-150 m on cohesive soils. Drought-resistant wheatgrass are more commonly used as perennial grasses, whose dense cover well protects the soil from blowing out from the neighboring strips occupied by spring wheat or strip fallow.

In the absence of perennial grasses in the eastern steppe areas soil protective role in the crop rotation performs crops and stubble cereals, which are alternated by strips with strip fallow.

At the Pavlodar experimental station on protection of soils from wind erosion the five-field soil-protective crop rotation with ten-year rotation with strip placement of crops is used: 1-5 – perennial grasses, 6-7 – spring wheat, 8 – strip fallow, 9-10 – spring wheat. Strips of fallow and annual crops alternate with strips of perennial grasses. Even-numbered strips are sown with perennial grasses, such as a mixture of vetch and alfalfa or sainfoin, and odd strips are occupied by fallow and wheat.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, on low-powered leached medium-loamy black soil at risk of wind erosion, 5-field soil-protective crop rotation is introduced: 1-3 – perennial grasses of 1-3 years of use, 4 – spring wheat, 5 – spring wheat with undersowing of perennial grasses.

In the North Caucasus, to prevent wind erosion, soil-protective crop rotations based on perennial grasses and strip planting of crops are also introduced.

Productivity of soil-protective crop rotations can be increased by introducing the sowing of mixtures of annual grasses, intermediate crops and some thickening of cereals crops.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Fundamentals of Agronomy: Tutorial/Y.V. Evtefeev, G.M. Kazantsev. – M.: FORUM, 2013. – 368 p.: ill.

Design, implementation and maintenance of crop rotations

25.11.2021

The system of crop rotations, a set of adopted crop rotations in an agricultural enterprise, is the basis of modern farming systems.

The process of implementation of crop rotations can be divided into three stages:

design;
implementation;
maintenance.

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Crop rotation

Designing a system of crop rotations

Designing of crop rotation system – development of project documentation of crop rotation system and its agro-economic assessment. Designing of crop rotations is an integral part of the project of on-farm land management which is developed by design organizations on land management.

The system of crop rotations must:

meet the objectives of specialization of the agribusiness for the production of the main types of agricultural products;
ensure optimal and perspective structure of sown areas;
take into account local climatic and soil-hydrological conditions, relief peculiarities and economic objects.

According to the basic principle of the adaptability of farming the system of crop rotations as a whole and its constituent crop rotations, cultivated crops and the order of their alternation must meet the specific soil-climatic, organizational-economic and economic conditions.

When designing a system of crop rotations adhere to the principles:

differentiation by agrolandscape elements, land types and signs of spatial isolation;
optimization of the number of crop rotations, areas under them and the size of fields;
manufacturability;
transformability;
relationship to the level of intensification of production;
economic efficiency;
compliance with the requirements of specialization.

Preparatory period of design

In order to develop a project of on-farm land management, the project organization shall provide information:

the basis for the design;
prospective indicators on specialization;
interfarm relations;
organizational and management structure of production;
list of settlements;
placement of livestock facilities;
areas of agricultural land with allocation of arable land and perennial plantations;
areas converted to arable land and other types of agricultural land;
areas designated for irrigation and drainage as well as for radical improvement;
the structure of sown areas by crops;
average yields of crops and natural forage lands over a number of years;
the number of livestock for each type of animal and its average productivity;
volume of gross livestock and crop production, including marketable and for on-farm use;
measures on soil erosion protection and water and air pollution control.

Preparatory work is carried out for the drafting of the project:

study and systematize planning and cartographic, land-accounting, survey, land-evaluation and design materials, information on the existing state and prospective plans for the development of agribusiness;
survey the lands of the agricultural enterprise, collect and develop proposals for their future use, for example, identify areas of land subject to reclamation, radical or surface improvement and suitable for conversion to arable and other land; identify areas suitable for laying orchards, vineyards and berries;
determine areas of soil at risk of erosion;
determine the dynamics of erosion processes and the degree of soil erosion;
examine, if any, hydraulic soil-protective structures and forest-protective plantations;
examine the on-farm road network, production points of the farm, field camps, summer camps for cattle, and determine the expediency of their operation;
identify sources of water supply for irrigation and on-farm needs and their condition;
draw up schemes of crops location for the last two years.

According to the results of the surveys, they carry out the clarification of the list of land plots. Data of surveys are recorded in field journals, acts and drawings.

During designing a system of crop rotations special attention is paid to a detailed study of arable lands. For this purpose soil maps, agrochemical and erosion cartograms, information on history of land plots, their location, relief and remoteness from production facilities, roads, crop yields for last 3-5 years are used.

Designing

The project of crop rotation system consists of graphic and text parts.

Graphic part of the project is a map of land use of the enterprise, including soil, agrochemical, erosion maps and other graphic materials.

Textual part – explanatory note with the actual analysis of the state of production and land, justification of the project, including agro-economic and other calculations.

Crop rotations are placed on the main land masses – arable land, which is the most valuable and productive part of land use of agricultural enterprise, which is in close connection with other elements of the agricultural landscape.

The project includes measures to improve the use of land and a plan for the development of production, such as the construction or placement of production facilities, roads, organization of crop rotation and forage land, measures to protect water bodies, land and air from pollution, and a project implementation plan. The project determines the annual volume of works, the need for seed material, fertilizers and agrochemicals, the need for agromelioration works and equipment.

The structure of sown areas is determined on the basis of objectives of the perspective plan of production development or business plan and satisfaction of on-farm needs for fodder, seeds, etc. Designing the structure of sown areas is based on the comparison of quantitative indicators expressed in monetary terms, in fodder or protein units, etc., produced per 1 hectare of arable land. Costs of labor and means of production in this case should seek to minimize.

According to the principle of adaptability of construction of crop rotations, all crops included in the structure of sown areas must be zoned according to local soil and climatic conditions and adopted agronomic techniques.

On the basis of the developed structure of sowing areas the number of crop rotations, their area, composition, proportion and schemes of alternation of crops, taking into account the results of the study of soils of arable lands is determined.

To determine the optimal number, type and species of crop rotations different options of the systems are compared, evaluating them by:

the volume of crop production per 1 hectare of arable land;
volume of forage production in general and by type;
fodder production volume per hectare;
productivity of agricultural machinery volume of intrafarm transportation;
availability of human resources and the degree of mechanization of production;
remoteness from settlements and production facilities.

During the design of crop rotations their efficiency is estimated first of all at the level of separate crops, and then at the level of different variants of sown areas structure in order to determine the optimal combination of cultivated crops in economical and agronomic respect.

Economically it is more expedient to place crops in large arrays, which allows to use agricultural machinery more effectively and narrow down the specialization of production.

Fields of crop rotations must represent a single homogeneous array with a regular configuration, preferably rectangular in shape.

Agroforestry and reclamation measures are planned taking into account the existing system of protective forest plantations, for which the creation of new or reconstruction of existing plantations of different purposes – field protection, water regulation, windbreak forest strips around production facilities, field camps or water sources are provided. If necessary, it is planned to plant gullies with forests, steep eroded slopes, fixing of sands.

The project envisages agromeliorative measures on flow regulation and fixation of growing ravines by hydro-technical constructions.

At the stage of design, lands subject to protection with determination of measures for pollution prevention shall be distinguished. In large livestock complexes, treatment facilities and irrigation fields are provided.

The final stage of crop rotation system design is development of project implementation plan, which determines terms and sequence of measures, volume and cost of works, criteria for quality assessment of performance, degree of participation of contractors and the enterprise itself.

Implementation of a system of crop rotations

At the stage of implementation of crop rotation system the project is coordinated with all parties, supervising and administrative state bodies with its subsequent implementation, which is carried out by the organization-developer of the project or the customer, depending on the agreement of the parties.

Implementation of the agreed project begins with land surveying works – delineation of crop rotation fields in situ. Land surveyors together with specialists of the agricultural enterprise specify borders of production facilities and household plots, crop rotations and fields, borders of farmlands, hay-and-pasture and herd (flock) plots, as well as roads and cattle passes.

In the process of project implementation there may be some discrepancies from the planned sizes of the areas caused by the specifics of land use. However, this should not affect the implementation of the intended production plan. Deviation of the areas of fields should not exceed 5-15%.

Upon completion of land management works crop rotations are considered to be introduced.

Maintenance of crop rotations

Maintenance of crop rotations is the period during which the project of introducing a system of crop rotations is implemented.

The replacement of any crop in the existing crop rotation, provided the basic principle of rotation is maintained, which does not reduce the fertility of the soil, is not a violation of crop rotations. Examples are the death of winter crops and their temporary replacement by spring cereals or the death of clover and its replacement by a vetch-oat mixture.

When maintenance of crop rotations it is necessary to:

eliminate mottled fields in the fields of the crop rotation;
place crops within the established boundaries of fields;
use lands included in the crop rotation fields, such as pastures or fallow land, for sowing or pure fallow;
to follow the established order of crop rotation;
ensure a high level of agricultural technique;
apply the amount of organic and mineral fertilizers determined by the fertilizer system.

As a rule, it takes 3-4 years to master field and forage (on-farm) crop rotations, special and forage (hay and pasture) ones – somewhat longer.

Plan for transition to crop rotation

In the case of transition to a new crop rotation within the framework of development, make a plan in the form of a transition table, in which the scheme of alternation of crops by years of implementation, while maintaining the structure of cultivated areas.

In the transition period should maintain the planned level of crop yields and provide the gross yields provided by the structure of cultivated areas.

To draw up a transition plan use the map of predecessors, which indicates the placement of crops on the fields for the previous two years. Also, determine the condition of each field, its degree of weed infestation, used fertilizers, tillage methods and other agricultural practices.

The plan of transition to crop rotation establishes the order of alternation of crops in each field until the end of the term of implementation of crop rotation, and for each crop a system of agronomic measures, taking into account the previous crops, weediness of fields, the need for meliorative works, etc., is developed.

If in the year of transition a new crop has to be placed on a poor predecessor, organic and mineral fertilizers are additionally applied under it. In the first years of development of crop rotations it is necessary to strive to have one crop or several crops similar in cultivation methods on one field.

When planning the development of a new crop rotation, the aim is to complete the transition as quickly as possible.

The following procedure is used to develop transition tables:

Determine the plan and order of development of new land to be included in the crop rotation, with lands with less economic value selected for plowing first.
Refine the crops sown in the previous year, i.e. winter and perennial grasses.
The most valuable crops are placed on the best predecessors.
Less demanding crops taking into account their commodity value are placed on the rest of the predecessors. Spring crops are placed in descending order of their value.
For bare and seeded fallows, the most littered fields with the worst predecessors are allocated.
Fields separated by several predecessors are desirable to unite.
In rotations with perennial grasses, determine the place for their seeding.In the southern regions of Russia perennial grasses are undersown under spring cereals; in the Non-Black Soil Zone – more often under winter crops on less heavy soils, on heavier soils – under barley, oats, spring wheat, and annual grasses.
If there are combined fields, crops closest in biology and growing technology are placed in them, for example, early spring crops with early spring crops, winter cereals with winter crops, row crops with row crops, etc.

The plan of transition to a new crop rotation should be made in such a way that each crop in the first year of transition is placed on good predecessors.

Deviations in the transition plan are acceptable, if it does not lead to a significant change in the structure of cultivated areas. For example, in arid areas after non fallow predecessors in dry autumn conditions winter crops will not give normal sprouts, so the field can be left for sowing of spring wheat, barley and, conversely, in favorable years you can expand winter crops at the expense of spring crops. As a result, grain yield will be higher from the crop rotation area, and objective changes in crop rotation cannot be attributed to violation.

Transition plans are made for each crop rotation to be introduced, accompanied by explanations of those deviations from the basic scheme of alternation, which may be in the transition period. Twice a year, in the spring after spring crops are sown and in the fall before winter crops are sown, the correct placement of crops is clarified based on the established plan and the transition table.

Example. A 3-year plan of development of crop rotation with the scheme: 1 – fallow clover, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – annual grasses (vetch + oats), 5 – winter crops, 6 – barley with undersowing of clover.

Table. Crop rotation implementation plan

Field no.	Field area	Actual placement of crops (what was occupied by the field)				Planned placement of crops in the years of transition
		in the previous year		this year		The first year of the implementation of crop rotation		The second year of the implementation of crop rotation		The third year of the implementation of crop rotation
		crop	ha	crop	ha	crop	ha	crop	ha	crop	ha
1	118	Fallow Peas	20 98	Fallow fields (development) Winter crops	20 98	Spring wheat	118	Annual grasses	118	Winter crops	118
2	120	Potatoes Annual grasses	90 30	Spring wheat	120	Annual grasses	120	Winter crops	120	Spring wheat	120
3	119	Root crops Oats	50 69	Annual grasses Peas	50 69	Winter crops	119	Spring wheat	119	Annual grasses	119
4	117	Silage crops Winter crops	17 100	Barley	117	Annual grasses	117	Winter crops	117	Barley with undersowing of clover	117
5	120	Seeded fallow Winter rye	100 20	Winter crops Peas	100 20	Barley with undersowing of clover	120	Clover fallow	120	Winter crops	120
6	119	Spring wheat Vegetable	98 21	Annual grasses	119	Winter crops	119	Barley with undersowing of clover	119	Clover fallow	119
Total	713		713		713		713		713		713

To confirm the correctness of the transition plan make a table of sown areas under crops by year.

Table. Change in the years of transition of the area under crops and used arable land, ha

Crops	Before the introduction of crop rotation	In the year of transition			When maintaining crop rotation
		first	second	third
Winter crops	198	238	237	238	238
Spring cereals	237	238	238	237	237
Annual grasses	169	237	118	119	119
Clover fallow	-	-	120	119	119
Peas	89	-	-	-	-
Fallow	20	-	-	-	-
Total arable land	713	713	713	713	713
Total seeds	693	713	713	713	713

Plans for transition to on-farm crop rotations are similar to plans for transition to field crop rotations. Plans for transition to hay and pasture and soil-protective crop rotations require a longer period.

Evaluating the effectiveness of crop rotations

Evaluating the effectiveness of individual crops

The following indicators are used to assess individual crops in a crop rotation:

yield of the main and by-products (t/ha);
quality of products, their food, fodder or technical value;
the amount of crop residues (t/ha) and their nutrient content (kg/ha);
economic and energy output per hectare in rubles and energy units;
labor costs per hectare and production unit in man-hours, material and monetary costs in rubles and energy in Joules per 1 hectare and 100 kg of production;
net income per hectare and per ruble costs in rubles;
profitability, %.

The basic indicator of evaluation of agricultural crops and crop rotations is yield. For correct comparison it is advisable to determine the net yield, i.e. the yield collected from the fields minus the seeding rate.

To assess the economic efficiency of fallow fields, the costs and yields of the main and by-products in different links of crop rotations are compared.

The efficiency of fodder production is determined by the yield of fodder units, protein and fodder-protein units from 1 hectare. The evaluation is made both for groups of fodder crops – grain forage, silage, succulent, coarse, and for types of forage plants included in the group, selecting the most favorable ones. Preference is given to crops with the most advantageous combination of fodder quality and cost.

Some crops, for example, flax, tobacco, sunflower, cannot be evaluated in fodder units, so they are evaluated by market value of production per unit of arable area.

When evaluating individual crops, their impact on physical properties of soil, primarily structure and water regime, soil-protecting and phytosanitary capacity is taken into account. The amount of leftover crop residues is determined by the yield of the main product using coefficients and the content of nutrients according to the reference data.

Evaluating the effectiveness of crop rotations

The indicator for assessing the effectiveness of crop rotations is the yield of production from 1 hectare of arable land, expressed in comparable values, for example, in grain, fodder and fodder-protein, energy units or in rubles, taking into account the qualitative indicators.

Fodder unit is the fodder value of 1 kg of oats. To translate the productivity of various crops into feed units, the feed production reference books are used.

For a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of crop rotations, the following indicators are used:

yield of main products per 1 hectare of area in fodder, fodder-protein or grain units;
average cost of gross output in rubles, labor costs man-hours and means per unit of main products and per unit of sowing area, net income in rubles per 1 ha, profitability (%);
sustainability of production of the main products by the coefficient of variation;
soil-improving role of crop rotation, which is estimated by the dynamics of changes in the balance of organic matter, physical, chemical properties of soil, the amount of crop residues and the content of nutrients in them;
soil-protective efficiency of crop rotations, which is evaluated by increasing erosion resistance and reducing the intensity of erosion processes;
phytosanitary efficiency, which is estimated by changing the degree of weed infestation of crops, diseases and pests.

To determine the gross productivity of the crop rotation we sum up the main and by-products of all crops, expressed in comparable values. The obtained sum is divided by the area of all fields of the crop rotation and the yield of production per 1 hectare is determined.

By comparing crop rotations with different structures of sown areas, one chooses the one which ensures maximum productivity with minimum input of labor and means. In this case it is possible to consider that soil and climatic resources and biological potential of crops as well as material and labor resources are used most fully and rationally in this crop rotation.

Net income of the crop rotation from 1 hectare of area and per 1 ruble of annual costs characterizes the overall economic efficiency, and the ratio of net income to costs – profitability of the crop rotation.

Efficiency assessment by environmental, energy and soil protection indicators

Under market economy conditions, changes in prices for materials and services an objective, integral assessment of crop rotation can be its energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency of crop rotation is the total energy inputs for growing all crops of the crop rotation and the total energy content of crops in order to determine the degree of recoupment of energy costs by energy content of products.

Net energy income is calculated as the difference between the energy content of crops and the total energy cost of growing all crops.

The energy efficiency coefficient is the ratio of net income to energy inputs.

Bioenergy coefficient (BER) – the ratio of energy received with the crops to the energy inputs.

Energy production cost – per unit of yield or protein.

The energy evaluation of crop rotation efficiency can be converted into monetary units if the cost of one kilojoule is known and, thus, transferred into the economic evaluation of crop rotation efficiency.

Soil protection assessment of crop rotation efficiency is determined taking into account the degree of erosion processes and the presence of crops and agricultural practices in the rotation, which can halt these processes and protect the soil from destruction.

Ecological efficiency of crop rotations is evaluated by phytosanitary potential, which reflects the reduction or complete abandonment of the use of chemical plant protection agents. Depending on the degree of use of leguminous crops, manure, straw for fertilization, green manure, sowing of perennial grasses and the intermediate crops, the ecologically effective structure of sown areas can be determined. These techniques reduce the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, protecting the environment and agricultural products from pollution.

Field history book and other documentation

The basis of agricultural production documentation is the on-farm land management project, which includes all documentation on crop rotations. It consists of cartographic materials, agro-economic justification, explanatory note, act on the transfer of the project to the area, etc.

The project documentation includes the Book of registration of crop rotations in which the basic data from agroeconomic substantiation are entered: quantity of introduced crop rotations, their area and quantity of fields, schemes of alternation of cultures, sown areas of each crop for the year of development of crop rotations, dynamics of changes of arable and other grounds, meliorative and soil-protective actions.

Based on this source documentation, enterprises keep a Field History Book.

The Field History Book of Crop Rotation is one of the main agro-production documents reflecting the history of each field of the crop rotation and crop cultivation technology.

It contains information about the state of the land fund and its brief characteristics. On the basis of the intrafarm land management project it includes information on introduced crop rotations: type and species, area of fields and the whole crop rotation, crop rotation scheme, transitional and rotational tables, planned and actual areas of crops, bare and seeded fallows, brief characteristics of relief and its borders, data on granulometric composition, physical and chemical properties of soils, thickness of arable layer and content of mobile forms of potassium, phosphorus and other nutrients. It contains characteristics of weed infestation of fields, main types of weed plants, quantitative assessment of pests and pathogens of diseases.

The field history book is kept by a farmer or an agronomist of the enterprise according to the results of agrotechnical measures. It records the results of phenological observations of plants, the timing and characteristics of weather events such as precipitation, frost on the soil and in the air, time of snowfall, dust storms, dry winds, etc.

The Field History Book is used to analyze compliance with crop rotations and farming techniques, to identify shortcomings and measures for their elimination. Based on these data, measures to improve the efficiency of land use and increase their productivity are developed.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – M.: Publishing house “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Crop rotations in small (private) farms

25.11.2021

Crop rotations in small (private) farms differ somewhat from traditional crop rotations by virtue of their specificity, although in general the principles of their construction remain the same. The schemes of alternation, types and species of crop rotations in peasant farms are determined by the area of arable land, specialization, soil and climatic conditions, technical and resource capacities, market conditions and other conditions.

As a rule, the area of fields in small (private) farms is small – up to 100 hectares. They introduce one crop rotation of narrow specialization and short turnover. In the case of field specialization, field crop rotation is introduced, in the case of livestock specialization – forage crop rotation, in the case of vegetable specialization – special vegetable crop rotation.

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Crop rotation

Examples of crop rotations in small (private) farms

Private farms mainly specialize in crop production. Among the main crops they cultivate cereals, forage crops and potatoes. The following crop rotations are common among such farms:

1 – perennial grasses, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – barley with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1 – annual grasses, 2 – spring cereals or winter crops, 3 – potatoes or root crops;
1 – lupine for silage and green mass; 2 – winter rye; 3 – potatoes;
1 – clover, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring cereals, 4 – leguminous and groats, 5 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover;
1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – vegetables, potatoes or root crops, 4 – spring cereals with a undersowing of perennial grasses.

In private farms of cereal and livestock specialization crop rotations are used:

1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter cereals, 4 – silage, 5 – spring cereals, 6 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1 – perennial grasses, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – potatoes, root crops, 4 – spring cereals, 5 – annual grasses, 6 – silage grasses, 7 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1 – lupine for silage, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – potatoes, silage, 4 – lupine for seed, 5 – spring cereals;
1 – annual grasses, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – root crops, potatoes, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – spring cereals.

For the production of juicy forages alternation schemes are used:

1 – forage beets, 2 – potatoes, 3 – corn for green fodder or silage, 4 – potatoes;
1 – winter cereals, 2 – forage beet, 3 – potatoes, 4 – corn for green fodder or silage.

Sources

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Special crop rotations

24.11.2021

Special crop rotations are crop rotations designed for cultivation of crops requiring special agrotechnics and special conditions.

Special crop rotations are divided into subtypes:

vegetable,
vegetable-forage,
rice,
melon,
hemp,
tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum),
strong tobacco (Nicotiana rustica),
strawberry,
fruits,
medicinal,
essential oils,
soil-protecting.

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Crop rotation

Vegetable crop rotations

Vegetable crop rotations – crop rotations specializing in the cultivation of vegetable crops. The most common among special crop rotations subtype, most often the fields of vegetable crop rotations are located near cities and industrial centers.

Depending on soil and climatic conditions, vegetable rotations differ significantly. In areas with limited heat, such as the Non-Black Earth Zone and Siberia, the range of vegetable crops is limited to white cabbage, table beets and carrots. More favorable in terms of heat regime, the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part of Russia have a wider range of vegetable crops, including also tomato, cucumber, pepper, eggplant, onion and some others.

Vegetables are referred to crops of intensive farming. It is possible on the background of high doses of fertilizers using irrigation, so they are placed near water sources: near settlements, rivers, ponds, etc. It is desirable to place vegetable crop rotation fields in depressions and include one or two fields of perennial grasses.

Vegetable crops are sensitive to diseases, pests and weeds, especially in the initial phases of growth, which are the main factor reducing the yield.

Their rotation is largely determined by the peculiarities of biology and cultivation technology. For example, white cabbage and other cabbage family plants consume large amounts of nitrogen and respond well to the application of high doses of fresh manure with high nitrogen content. In contrast, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and onion suffer from excess nitrogen. For this reason, they are placed one year after perennial grasses or after crops under which fresh manure was applied. Decomposed manure is applied under vegetable crops.

Excess nitrogen negatively affects the formation of fruits of tomato, pepper, onion, garlic and affects their sturdiness. Excess nitrogen leads to accumulation of nitrates in plant parts in amounts exceeding maximum permissible concentrations (MPC).

Alternation of crops with deep penetrating root system, such as cabbage, carrots, table beet and others, with plants with shallow root system, such as cucumbers, onions and others allows more efficient use of soil fertility.

Principles of building vegetable crop rotations:

Due to the sensitivity of vegetable crops to diseases and pests, their repeated sowing, including plants of the same family, is not allowed.
When planning the scheme of alternation of vegetable crops take into account the peculiarities of their nutrition and impact on quality and shelf life of products.
Rotation must take into account the possibility of changing the roots in the fields.
Change of vegetable crops, depending on the timing of sowing and harvesting must provide an opportunity for timely preparation of the field for the following crop.
Vegetable crop rotation should be built taking into account the most effective use of irrigation systems, fertilization, tillage, protection of soil from erosion and the environment.

For the main zones of Russia on the basis of scientific research and accumulated production experience identified the best predecessors of vegetable and melon crops.

Table. Predecessors of vegetable and melon crops^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Crop	Predecessors
	good	satisfactory	bad
Non-Black Soil Zone
White cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, etc.	Perennial grasses, legumes, sideral fallow, early potatoes	One year after perennial grasses, carrots, clubroot-stable varieties of cabbage	Cabbage and other cabbage plants, table and fodder beets
Carrots	Annual grasses, cabbage, early potatoes	Table and fodder beets	Carrots
Table beet	Annual grasses, carrots, early potatoes	Cabbage	Table and fodder beets
Potatoes	Cabbage, annual grasses	Carrots, table beets, one year after perennial grasses	Potatoes
Forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part of Russia
White cabbage, etc.	Perennial grasses, winter wheat, onions, cucumber, tomato	Potatoes, one year after perennial grasses	Cabbage crops
Tomato, eggplant, peppers, potatoes	Cucumber, cabbage, winter wheat, perennial grasses, corn for silage, herbs	Onions, legumes, vegetable peas, one year after perennial grasses	Potatoes and other nightshades
Cucumber, zucchini	Cabbage, tomato, potatoes, legumes	Onions, herbs, one year after perennial grasses	Cucumber, zucchini
Onions, garlic	Potato, tomato, cucumber, winter wheat	Carrots, cabbage, one year after perennial grasses	Onions, garlic, perennial grasses
Beans, vegetable beans, vegetable peas	Tomato, cucumber, potato, onion, herbs	Carrots, table beets, cabbage	Legumes, perennial grasses
Carrots	Cabbage, tomato, cucumber, potato	Table beets, carrots	-
Table beets	Potato, tomato, onion, carrot	Cabbage	Table and forage beets
Watermelon, melon, pumpkin	Perennial grasses, winter cereals on bare fallow	Corn for silage, legumes, sorghum	Melon crops
Western Siberia and Altai
White cabbage, etc.	Carrot, cucumber, bare fallow, one year after perennial grasses	Onion, tomato	Cabbage and other cabbages crops
Tomato	Onions, carrots, cucumber, perennial grasses	Cabbage	Tomato, nightshade
Cucumber	Onions, cabbage, early potatoes, perennial grasses	Tomato	Cucumber
Carrots	Perennial grasses, onions, cucumber	Cabbage, carrots	Tomato
Table beet	Onions, cucumber, annual grasses	Tomato, corn for silage	Cabbage, carrots
Onions, garlic	Cabbage, cucumber, annual grasses, bare fallow, one year after perennial grasses	Onions (after bare fallow), one year after perennial grasses	Perennial grasses, carrots
Watermelon, melon, pumpkin	Perennial grasses	Winter crops after black fallow, corn for silage, sorghum, melon crops	Spring wheat, grain-forage crops

The whole variety of vegetable crop rotations can be reduced to row crop and grass-row, sometimes species.

With a narrow specialization of farms in the production of certain species, the following vegetable rotations are recommended:

cabbage: 1 – cabbage, 2 – cucumber, 3 – cabbage, 4 – onion, 5 – carrot (40% of cabbage);
cucumber: 1 – cabbage, 2 – cucumber, 3 – onion, 4 – early potatoes, 5 – cucumber, 6 – table beet and carrot (33% of cucumber)
onions: 1 – cabbage, 2 – onions per turnip, 3 – tomato, 4 – cucumber, 5 – onions per turnip (40% onion).

In case of strong weed infestation of fields without irrigation, 4-5-field fallow-row crop rotations with one field of bare fallow are used. For example: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – onions, 3 – carrots, 4 – cabbage. Allowed after the cabbage placement of tomato, crop rotation in this case becomes a 5-field.

Non-Black Soil Zone of Russia

In the Non-Black Soil Zone of Russia, grass-row crop rotations with a limited set of vegetable crops are common. Heat-loving crops in this zone are practically not found in the open field, and perennial grasses are the best predecessors for the main crop of this zone – white cabbage.

Typical vegetable crop rotations for the Non-Black Soil Zone:

1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – cabbage, 5 – carrots, 6 – early potatoes, 7 – table beets;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – cabbage, 5 – clubroot-resistant cabbage, 6 – carrot and table beet;
1 – clover of the 1st year of use, 2 – clover of the 2nd year of use, 3 – late cabbage, 4 – carrots, 5 – table root vegetables, 6 – cabbage, 7 – potatoes, 8 – annual grasses with undersowing of clover;
1 – clover of the 1st year of use; 2 – late cabbage; 3 – carrots; 4 – potatoes; 5 – early cabbage; 6 – table beet; 7 – different vegetables; 8 – annual grasses with undersowing of clover.

To create more favorable conditions for fertility reproduction and phytosanitary condition of soils, in addition to perennial and annual grasses, intermediate crops are introduced into crop rotations.

According to the Research Institute of Vegetable Industry, intermediate crops of lupine, peas, phacelia for green fertilizer on sod-podzol soils of Moscow Region improve physical and biological soil parameters, increase the coefficient of nutrient use and increase the cabbage yield by 15-30% from 67 to 77-87 t/ha. The content of nitrates in the plants is reduced by more than 2 times.

At high saturation of crop rotations with vegetable crops the fields with perennial grasses are excluded by switching to row crop rotations. In such crop rotations, of great importance are intermediate crops for green manure and varieties resistant to characteristic diseases: 1 – annual fodder crops + post-mowing crops (peas, lupine, phacelia, etc.), 2 – cabbage, 3 – carrot, 4 – cabbage (clubroot-resistant varieties), 5 – table beet. If necessary, a field of early potatoes can be put after carrots. In this case the crop rotation becomes 6-field with improved phytosanitary properties.

In the central regions of the Non-Black Soil Zone on irrigated light soils, such as Moscow, Bryansk, Vladimir and other regions, to obtain early vegetables use row crop rotations:

1 – green vegetables + siderate (lupine) as a second crop, 2 – early cabbage, 3 – early potatoes, 4 – carrots, 5 – table beets;
1 – feather onions or other green vegetables, 2 – early cabbage and cauliflower, 3 – carrots and table beets, 4 – early potatoes.

Forest-steppe and steppe zones

In the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part of Russia due to a more favorable heat regime the assortment of vegetable crops is wider, including tomato, cucumber, pepper, eggplant, etc.

On fertile black earth soils under irrigated conditions, 6-field row crop rotations are used:

1 – early potatoes + intermediate crops, 2 – cucumber, 3 – tomato, 4 – cabbage, 5 – tomato, 6 – onion for turnip and table root crops;
1 – winter wheat + intermediate crop; 2 – cucumber; 3 – cabbage; 4 – tomato; 5 – onion for turnip and table root crops; 6 – early tomato.

In the second alternation it is allowed to replace early tomato with late one and to include vegetable peas after early tomato for green peas.

If soil fertility is high, crop rotations without perennial grasses are used. For example, on drained lowland lands in the Moscow region specialized vegetable farms use the following crop rotation: 1 – cabbage, 2 – carrots, 3 – onions, 4 – beets. On light loamy and sandy loam floodplain soils: 1 – early cabbage and radish, 2 – table root crops, 3 – cucumber, 4 – onion and green vegetables, 5 – tomato.

Southern Russia

On poorly cultivated heavy soils of the southern regions of Russia use grass-row vegetable crop rotations that include two fields of alfalfa with no cover crops and two fields of tomato: 1-2 – alfalfa (no cover crops), 3 – cabbage late sprouts, 4 – tomato, 5 – cucumber, 6 – tomato. Tomato share in this crop rotation accounts for 1/3 of the sown area.

The number of fields may be increased to 8 on the old-tillage heavy soils of the grass-row crop rotation, 3 of which (37,5%) are occupied by tomato, 2 fields – alfalfa, the remaining 3 – other vegetable crops: 1-2 – alfalfa of non-cover sowing, 3 – tomato, 4 – cucumber, 5 – onion for turnip or table root crops, 6 – tomato, 7 – cabbage, 8 – tomato.

For tomatoes and cabbage, a six-field grass-row crop rotation is recommended: 1-2 – non-cover alfalfa, 3 – late cabbage, 4 – tomato, 5 – late cabbage, 6 – tomato.

In southern regions, in contrast to the Non-Black Soil Zone, in vegetable rotations return of common cabbage varieties is possible more often.

On the fertile soils of the southern zone of European parts of Russia are recommended the following crop rotations: 1 – tomato, 2 – cucumber, 3 – tomato, 4 – cabbage, 5 – tomato, 6 – onion and root crops.

Western Siberia and Altai

In Western Siberia and Altai, intensive row crop rotations without perennial grass sowing are typical for farms near cities. On highly fertile soils 4-5-field crop rotations are used:

1 – cabbage, 2 – onion, 3 – cucumber, 4 – tomato, 5 – carrot and table beet;
1 – cabbage, 2 – onion to turnip, 3 – carrot, 4 – tomato;
1 – cabbage, 2 – onion to turnip, 3 – cucumber, 4 – early potatoes.

In such crop rotations the whole arable area is occupied by vegetable crops.

Volga Region

For the Volga region under irrigated conditions the following schemes of alternation are recommended:

1 – early potatoes, after harvesting sowing alfalfa, 2-3 – alfalfa of 1-2 years of use, 4 – cabbage, cucumber, 5 – tomato, eggplant, pepper, 6 – cabbage, cucumber, 7 – table root crops;
1 – early potatoes, sowing of alfalfa after harvesting; 2-3 – alfalfa of 1-2 years; 4 – tomato, eggplant, pepper; 5 – cabbage; 6 – cucumber, onion; 7 – tomato; 8 – table root crops.

On soils with poor cultivation, the share of vegetable crops in the cropping pattern is reduced to 80-67%, and perennial and annual grasses and grains are put in 5- to 6-field crop rotations:

1 – grains with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2 – perennial grasses, 3 – cabbage, 4 – cucumber, 5 – onion, 6 – tomato;
1 – annual grasses, 2 – cabbage, 3 – cucumber, 4 – onion, 5 – carrot.

Vegetable-forage crop rotations

Vegetable-fodder crop rotations combine vegetable direction of specialization with forage production of green, silage and succulent fodder.

The basis of vegetable-fodder crop rotations is grass-row species, including vegetable crops, perennial and annual grasses, silage crops, forage root crops, potatoes of medium- and late-maturing varieties. In these crop rotations, both separate fields occupied by a single crop and combined fields are possible.

On highly fertile soils under conditions of sufficient moisture or irrigation, the following alternation schemes are effective:

1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – late cabbage, 5 – table root crops, 6 – potatoes, 7 – corn for silage, 8 – forage root crops;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses; 2-3 – perennial grasses; 4 – late cabbage; 5 – corn for silage; 6 – potatoes; 7 – carrots; 8 – table and forage beets.

Melon crop rotations

Cucurbit crop rotations are common in the Middle and Lower Volga region, South-East Russia and the North Caucasus. The main crop is watermelon and melon, as well as pumpkin, cultivated, in addition to these regions, in the southern regions of the Non-Black Earth zone, in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of European Russia and in the east – in Western Siberia, Trans-Urals, Altai and adjacent areas.

Melon crop rotations predominantly belong to the cereal-fallow-row and grass-fallow species. In the cereal-fallow-row crop rotation, melons are placed repeatedly two years after spring or winter wheat, following bare fallow:

1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – watermelon, 4 – melon or pumpkin, 5 – leguminous, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – spring grain forage;
1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring wheat, 3 – watermelon, 4 – melon or watermelon, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – spring grain forage.

Cucurbits are cultivated after alfalfa or its mixtures with vetch in grass-fallow rotations:

1-3 – alfalfa, 4 – watermelon, 5 – watermelon, 6 – cereals with undersowing of alfalfa;
1-3 – alfalfa mixed with oilseed rape, 4 – watermelon, 5 – melon or pumpkin, 6 – grains with undersowing of alfalfa.

Rice crop rotations

The main regions of rice cultivation and accordingly distribution of rice crop rotations are Kuban, Far East, lower reaches of Volga and Don. Rice cultivation is specific because of special technology of cultivation in flooded conditions on fallow fields – rice checks.

Obtaining of high rice yields is possible on soils with high content of organic matter, systematic leveling of checks, intensive aeration of soil before sowing and after harvesting of culture, for inactivation of toxic products of anaerobe microorganisms and intensive struggle with weed vegetation. To meet these conditions, a field with alfalfa and an agromeliorative field are introduced into rice crop rotations.

Rice survives 2 to 3 years of permanent cultivation, but it sharply decreases its productivity on the 4th-5th year because of waterlogging or soil salinization, reduction of aerobic soil microflora activity, accumulation of hydrogen sulfide and ferrous oxides. Permanent rice cultivation also leads to severe weed infestation of maps and checks and soil depletion by humus.

To prevent the negative impact of permanent cultivation, every 2-3 years rice crops are interrupted by row crops, perennial and annual grasses with sowing of intermediate crops for green fodder or as siderates.

After alfalfa, rice is cultivated continuously for no more than three years; after an agroameliorative field, which is a fallow field, for no more than two years. Agromeliorative field is divided into two equal parts. On one part, after harvesting rice, a mixture of winter vetch and wintering peas is sown, and after harvesting them for grain, leveling and half-fallow tillage are carried out. On the second part of the field after leveling and half-fallow tillage sow the same mixture for green forage. In September, after levelling work, both halves of the agromeliorative field are sown with the same mixture of winter vetch and wintering peas after harvesting green mass. Green mass of these crops is harvested in November and again in the middle of April of the next year. After the grass mixture is harvested in spring, the field is prepared for sowing rice.

Deep tillage allows to aerate the soil well for rice cultivation, and perennial grasses and green fertilizers replenish the stock of organic matter in the soil, which restores the activity of soil biota, suppresses weed vegetation. These techniques also apply to the agromeliorative field.

In Kuban, the lower reaches of the Don and Volga in farms specializing in the cultivation of rice, cereal-grass and cereal-rice crop rotations are used:

1-2 – alfalfa, 3-4 – rice, 5 – seeded fallow (agromeliorative field), 6-7 – rice (with such alternation of crops, rice occupies 57% of the area);
1-2 – alfalfa, 3-5 – rice, 6 – seeded fallow (agromeliorative field), 7-8 – rice.

The share of rice in these crop rotations is 62.5%. To increase the efficiency of rice crop rotations, intermediate crops for green manure are introduced: 1 – seeded fallow, 2-3 – rice + intermediate crops for green manure, 4 – rice.

The Far East is characterized by the same crop rotation patterns of rice crops as the European part of Russia. In addition, there are cereal-fallow-row crop rotations that include soybeans:

1 – bare fallow (or soybeans for green fertilizer), 2-3 – rice, 4 – soybeans, 5-6 – rice;
1 – clover of the 1st year of use, 2-4 – rice, 5 – soybeans for green manure, 6-7 – rice, 8 – oats with undersowing of clover.

In Krasnodar Krai the farm named after Maistrenko, “Krasnoarmeisky” uses rice rotation: 1 – lucerne 1st year of use, 2-3 – rice, 4 – fallow, occupied by leguminous, 5-6 – rice, 7 – winter wheat with undersowing of lucerne.

In Kazakhstan 6-8-field crop rotations with alternation of rice, perennial grasses and seeded fallow were introduced: 1-3 – lucerne of 1st to 3rd year of use, 4-6 – rice, 7 – seeded fallow, 8 – rice.

Hemp crop rotations

Special hemp crop rotations are common in the Central Russian zone, where hemp is traditionally cultivated: in Orel, Bryansk, Kaluga, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Kursk regions, republics of Mordovia, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Tatarstan.

Hemp is a crop with high nutrient and moisture requirements. It is sown on fertile black earth, river valley soils and on drained peatlands. The best predecessors of hemp are row crops, winter cereals and perennial grasses. Repeated sowing of hemp after clover, potato, corn, peas, and lupine for silage (on light soils) without significant decrease in yield is permitted on fertile soils.

The highest productivity is demonstrated by 4-6-field hemp crop rotations of row, grass-row and cereal-grass-row crop rotation, with a share of hemp in the structure of sown areas up to 50%:

1 – potatoes, 2 – hemp, 3 – corn for silage, 4 – hemp;
1 – potatoes, 2 – hemp, 3 – leguminous, 4 – hemp;
1-2 – perennial grasses, 3-4 – hemp, 5 – corn, 6 – spring cereals or annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1 – corn, 2-3 – hemp, 4 – winter wheat, 5 – hemp, 6 – sugar beet, 7 – hemp;
1 – forage root crops, 2 – hemp, 3 – potatoes, 4 – hemp.

In the Orel region the fertile soils near human settlements are used in the following hemp crop rotation: 1 – clover, 2 – hemp, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – potato, 5 – hemp, 6 – potato, 7 – hemp, 8 – spring crops with undersowing of clover.Hemp accounted for 37.5% of the area, which is placed after the best predecessors.

On light soils, hemp crop rotations include annual lupine: 1 – potatoes, 2 – hemp, 3 – annual lupine for silage or green fertilizer.

Cotton crop rotations

Cotton plants occupy large areas in the areas where irrigated agriculture is applied, Central Asian and Transcaucasian countries. To increase the share of cotton in special crop rotations, repeated sowing for 3-4 and more years in a row is introduced.

In Central Asian countries, nine- and ten-field cotton-alfalfa crop rotations are used. On cultivated, highly fertile soils, the following alternation schemes are introduced:

1-2 – alfalfa, 4-10 – cotton;
1-2 – alfalfa, 3-6 – cotton, 7 – corn, 8-10 – cotton;
1 – alfalfa, 2-4 – cotton, 5 – corn, 6-10 – cotton.

Cotton share in these crop rotations is 70, 75, and 80% of area.

Cotton rotations are recommended for poorly cultivated but comparatively fertile soils, e.g. slightly and medium saline soils:

1-2 – alfalfa, 3-6 – cotton, 7 – corn for grain, 8-10 – cotton;
1-2 – alfalfa, 3-6 – cotton, grain maize with stubby seeding of rape or siderats, 8-10 – cotton;
1-3 – alfalfa, 4-7 – cotton, 8 – corn for grain, 9-10 – cotton.

In these crop rotations, cotton accounts for 75%, 70, and 66.7%, respectively.

To increase the efficiency of cotton-alfalfa crop rotations, alfalfa crops are combined with Sudan grass or corn, and intercrops are introduced in autumn and under winter, which are harvested in spring for green fodder or ploughed before sowing cotton. The best intermediate crops are winter vetch, winter barley or rye, winter peas, shabdar, mustard, rape and others.

Intermediate crops, as a rule, are applied on the 3-5th year of cotton cultivation, after alfalfa plowing.

It should be noted that in Central Asia, when growing cotton in crop rotation, to produce 100 kg of raw cotton, 24% less labour is used than when cultivating it without rotation, 34% less fertilizer, 20% less irrigation water.

Tobacco crop rotations

Crop rotation of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is a thermophilic crop with a long growing season. For this reason, tobacco crop rotations are common in warm climates in the subtropical zone of Krasnodar Krai and the North Caucasus. It is one of the most labor-intensive technical crops. It is planted close to water sources and drying facilities. For this reason, tobacco is cultivated in special tobacco crop rotations with a narrow set of crops.

Tobacco crop rotations can be row, grass-fallow, and cereal-grass-row. They are based on placement of tobacco on the best for it predecessors – winter wheat, perennial grasses, sugar beets, corn, annual legumes and cereal grasses. Repeated sowing is allowed. Undesirable predecessors are hemp, sunflower, cucurbits, solanaceous crops.

In the foothills of Krasnodar Territory the following tobacco crop rotation is used: 1-2 – 1-2 years of alfalfa, 3 – tobacco, 4 – corn, 5 – tobacco, 6 – annual grasses, 7 – tobacco, 8 – spring barley with undersowing of perennial grasses. The share of tobacco is 37.5% of total area.

Tobacco is cultivated after perennial grasses and in the third year after them in the following crop rotation: 1-2 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years of use, 3 – tobacco, 4 – corn or Sudan grass, 5 – tobacco, 6 – spring barley with undersowing of perennial grasses. Tobacco accounts for 33% of the area.

Some farms of Krasnodar region use crop rotation: 1-2 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years, 3 – winter wheat, 4 – tobacco, 5 – winter wheat, 6 – tobacco, 7 – Sudan grass, 8 – tobacco.

In Kuban foothills the following eight-field cereal-grass-row crop rotation is applied: 1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter wheat, 4-5 – tobacco, 6 – winter wheat + intermediate crop, 7 – tobacco, 8 – corn.

In the humid subtropical zone of Krasnodar Krai, the following tobacco crop rotation was introduced: 1 – clover for two mowing, 2 – tobacco + intermediate crop, 3 – corn + intermediate crop, 4 – tobacco, 5 – grains with undersowing of clover.

Crop rotation of strong tobacco (Nicotiana rustica)

Strong tobacco (Nicotiana rustica, Russian for “mahorka”) is a temperate crop, cultivated in Mordovia, the Central Black Earth zone, Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Western Siberia. The best predecessors of strong tobacco are winter cereals, corn, root crops, legumes, perennial grasses, vegetable crops except solanaceae. Strong tobacco may be repeatedly sown. Unwanted predecessors are potatoes, hemp, sunflowers, cucurbits that have pests, diseases and weeds in common with it, for example, Orobanche. Strong tobacco is a predecessor for many other crops.

Among the strong tobacco crop rotations are used:

grass-fallow rotations:
- 1-2 – perennial grasses, 3-4 – strong tobacco, 5 – leguminous cereals, 6 – strong tobacco, 7 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses – 42.7% of strong tobacco;
- 1 – clover, 2-3 – strong tobacco, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – strong tobacco, 6 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses – 50% of strong tobacco;
row rotations:
- 1 – corn for silage, 2-3 – strong tobacco, 4 – leguminous, 5 – strong tobacco – 60% tobacco;
- 1 – annual grasses, 2 – strong tobacco, 3 – root crops, 4 – strong tobacco – 50% strong tobacco.

Strawberry and fruit crop rotations

Strawberries are a perennial plant that can withstand 4 to 6 years of perennial planting. Strawberries can be returned to their original place after 2-3 years. The best predecessors include bare and seeded fallow, and row crops of early harvest.

In the Non-Black Soil and forest-steppe zones used strawberry fallow-row rotation with a bare and sideral fallows: 1 – bare fallow with the planting of strawberry seedlings in late summer, 2 – strawberries, 3-6 – strawberries 1-4 years of fruiting, 7 – sideral fallow, 8 – winter cereals.

Strawberry rotations may use perennial grasses: 1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – early white cabbage or early potatoes with strawberries planted in late summer, 5 – strawberries, 6-9 – strawberries 1-4 years of fruiting.

In fruit nurseries, two crop rotations are used in the plots:

for propagation of sowing rootstocks;
for the formation of grafted sapling.

In both cases, introduce grass-fallow-row crop rotations. The following scheme of rotation is used for propagation of sowing rootstocks: 1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – winter or spring cereals, 5 – bare fallow, 6 – rootstocks, 7 – early row crops, 8 – rootstock of stone fruit species.

In plot for propagation of sowing rootstocks may use crop rotation without perennial grasses: 1 – bare fallow or green manure with autumn sowing of seeds of fruit crops, 2 – rootstock, 3 – leguminous or annual grasses, 4 – early row crops + intermediate crops for green fertilizer.

In plot for the formation of grafted sapling – eight-field crop rotation: 1 – bare fallow or green manure with autumn sowing of seeds of fruit crops, 2 – rootstock, 3 – leguminous or annual grasses, 4 – early row crops + intermediate crops for green fertilizer, 5 – bare fallow or green manure, 6 – seedlings, 7 – annuals, 8 – biennials.

Medicinal and essential oil crop rotations

Currently, more than 50 species of medicinal plants are introduced into cultivation, providing up to 70% of medicinal raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Among medicinal plants are perennial and annual plants. Most of them are cultivated in specialized farms in the south of Russia.

Some medicinal plants: Perennials – peppermint (Mentha piperita), valeriana medicinalis (Valeriana officinalis), motherwort five-spined (Leonurus quinquelobatus), rhubarb of Tangut (Rheum palmatum) and annuals – camomile (Matricaria chamomilla), Calendula and winter rye are cultivated in the Non-Black Earth and forest-steppe zones of Russia and in some areas of Siberia and the Far East.

Among the essential oil crops are annual coriander (Coriandrum sativum), common anise (Pimpinella anisum) and perennial cumin. In southern areas perennials are grown: melissa medicinal, clary sage (Salvia sclarea), etc.

Medicinal and aromatic crops are subject to high requirements for product purity. Therefore they are cultivated in environmentally clean conditions. Cultivation technology excludes their contamination with residual agrochemicals, so the importance is given to the use of organic fertilizers, agrotechnical and biological methods of plant protection from diseases, pests and weeds, and first of all, to crop rotation.

In most cases, medicinal and essential oil crops are introduced into conventional field, special and sometimes forage crop rotations. They are placed on the best predecessors – bare and seeded fallows, perennial grasses, leguminous, after winter crops, following the best predecessors, row crops.

Perennial medicinal and essential oil-bearing crops can be bred in the non-rotation fields, in which they are cultivated continuously for several years.

Soil-protecting crop rotations

Main article: Crop rotations: Soil-protecting crop rotations

In modern agrolandscape farming systems, crop rotations are required to ensure soil protection and conservation functions, especially on lands at risk of water or wind erosion.

Soil-protective crop rotations are based on the properties of some crops to protect the soil from erosion, combined with special methods of tillage and crop placement.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Fundamentals of Agronomy: Tutorial/Y.V. Evtefeev, G.M. Kazantsev. – M.: FORUM, 2013. – 368 p.: ill.

Forage crop rotations

23.11.2021

Forage crop rotations solve the problem of providing large livestock farms with coarse and succulent fodder. Despite the fact that perennial and annual grasses and silage crops can be cultivated in field crop rotations, fodder production is insufficient to meet the needs of large livestock farms. In this regard, there is a need to use fodder crop rotations, which are the basis of fodder production.

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Crop rotation

Main crops of forage crop rotations

The main crops of forage crop rotations are:

perennial leguminous grasses – alfalfa, clover, sainfoin, sweet clover, and Lotus;
perennial grasses – meadow fescue, timothy, hedgehog, awnless brome, rootless couch grass, ryegrass, etc;
annual grasses – chino-oat and vetch-oat mixtures, lupine, sorghum, Sudan grass, foxtail millet, etc.

Forage crop rotations may yield hay, baylage, green mass, and grass meal of high quality and high nutrient content. Winter rye, spring and winter vetch, oats, grass pea, peas, soybeans, rape, white mustard, etc. are often used for green mass.

A large variety of crops of forage crop rotations allows to provide the necessary assortment of forage for animal husbandry, but also to develop a crop rotation with an optimal structure of sown areas.

Principles of building forage crop rotations

The modern approach to the construction of forage crop rotations is based on a number of principles.

Fodder crop rotations must comply with the structure of sown areas established in the farm and meet the needs of livestock in fodder by their quantity, assortment and quality.
The choice of crops for forage crop rotations depends on specific soil and climatic conditions, which ensure the maximum yield of fodder from a unit area of arable land at its lowest cost and the possibility of using modern technologies of cultivation and use of forage.
The choice of fodder crops should also be determined by their versatility, such as perennial grasses and others suitable for the production of green mass, silage, roughage or concentrated feed.
The species composition of crops, the structure of sown areas, the timing of sowing, harvesting or pasturing should provide a continuous supply of green fodder (in the warm period of the year) for livestock under different methods of maintenance and feeding.
In areas of sufficient moisture and under conditions of irrigated agriculture it is necessary to use intermediate crops.
The selected fodder crops, the technology of their cultivation and preparation of fodder must ensure reproduction of soil fertility, protection from erosion and the environment.

The principles of forage crop rotations are close to the principles of field and special crop rotations.

Forage crop rotations are divided into:

on-farm;
hay-pasture;
combined.

Combined forage crop rotation is a crop rotation which combines on-farm, hay-pasture, field or vegetable crop rotations.

If a forage crop rotation includes 1-2 fields of vegetable crops, such a rotation refers to forage-vegetable crop rotation. Some soil-protecting and soil-strengthening crop rotations introduced on plots subject to erosion can also be conventionally referred to forage crop rotations.

Forage crop rotations are evaluated according to the yield of fodder units, crude protein, especially valuable amino acids, vitamins and carotene from one hectare of arable land, with simultaneous evaluation of the prime cost of one fodder or fodder-protein unit.

If there are cereal, technical and other crops in forage crop rotations the total average return of production in monetary terms from 1 ha of arable area is evaluated at current prices. The economic assessment can be supplemented with the energy assessment of energy and technical resources inputs per unit production.

On-farm forage crop rotation

On-farm crop rotations are the most widespread among forage crop rotations. According to the structure of cropping areas they differ from field crop rotations by small share or complete absence of cereals, with a high share of row silage crops (sunflower, corn, fodder cabbage, etc.), fodder root crops (fodder beet, rutabaga, carrot, turnip, etc.), potatoes. In some crop rotations fodder watermelon, pumpkin and zucchini are used as forage crops. Corn, oats, barley, peas, lathyrus, fodder lupine, sorghum, chumiza (Setaria italica), etc. are used for fodder grains.

On-farm crop rotations are located near livestock farms, on fertile fields. Crops of little fitness for transportation, such as silage or root crops, occupy large areas in such crop rotations.

Composition of on-farm crop rotations

In on-farm rotations, as well as in field rotations, perennial grasses are sown with one leguminous grass, such as alfalfa, clover, or a simple legume-grass mixture, such as a mixture of clover and timothy or alfalfa with bromegrass (Bromus erectus).

On-farm crop rotations generally do not have bare fallows. More often they belong to row crop rotations, grass-row, cereal-grass-row, and cereal-row crop rotations.

On-farm crop rotations consist of grass and row crop rotations:

1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – row crops;
1-2 – perennial grasses – winter intermediate crops for fodder; 3 – row crops;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses; 2-3 – perennial grasses;
1 – row crops, 2 – spring grain forage;
1 – row crops (corn for silage), 2 – row crops (forage root crops and potatoes).

On-farm crop rotations are characterized by short rotations of 3 to 5-6 years and are located near farms on fertilized fertile soils. The latter circumstance is due to the high saturation of the crop rotation with row crops, often in repeated crops. These crops (corn for silage and green fodder, forage root crops) are very demanding to soil fertility and show high productivity of up to 10 thousand fodder units from 1 ha of arable land against the background of high doses of fertilizers and irrigation.

According to the research of the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, saturation from 25 to 100% of the four-field farm rotation with row crops without irrigation in conditions of sod-podzolic loamy soils near Moscow with a simultaneous increase in fertility increased the productivity of the crop rotation more than 2 times.

Table. Productivity of on-farm crop rotations at different saturation with row crops (according to Vorobyov)

No. of crop rotation	Ratio of crops, %			Harvesting of products in fodder units
	row crops	cereals	legumes	without fertilizer		the same amount of fertilizer		fertilizers applied by nutrient removal
	row crops	cereals	legumes	t/ha	%	t/ha	%	t/ha	%
1	25	50	25	3.06	100	4.15	100	4.15	100
2	50	25	25	3.16	100.3	4.34	104.6	4.70	113.3
3	75	25	-	4.25	138.9	6.28	151.3	7.18	173.0
4	100	-	-	4.49	146.7	6.52	157.1	7.69	185.3

When using perennial grasses it is important to choose the right cover crop for their seeding. On fertile fields, overseeding perennial grasses into cereal crops, which usually give large yields, is associated with the possibility of complete fallout or severe thinning of perennial grasses.

Therefore, in on-farm fodder crop rotations, perennial grasses are sown under the cover of crops harvested early from the field, such as annuals for green fodder (vetch-oat mixture) or winter intermediate crops (winter rye for green fodder). According to the recommendations of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fodder, alfalfa is sown into corn for green fodder after one or two cultivations between the rows.

In grass-row on-farm crop rotations it is important to use perennial grasses as a predecessor for row crops. Optimal placement after perennial grasses is the sowing of corn or other silage crops that are good consumers of nitrogen accumulated by legume predecessors, as well as forage crops from the cabbage family – turnip, rape, fodder cabbage, rutabaga, etc. One year after perennial grasses in the crop rotation, potatoes or fodder root crops are placed.

Grass period of on-farm grass-row crop rotation is used for temporary pastures. For this purpose, the period of perennial grasses use is increased up to 3-4 years, starting pasturing from the second half of the second year of use.

For a longer use of perennial grasses, non-rotation (withdrawal) fields or the number of fields up to 3-4 are used. Then it is possible to build an alternating grass-row crop rotation with an extended grass period: 1 – annual forage grasses with undersowing of complex mixtures of perennial grasses, 2-5 – perennial grasses, 6 – corn for silage, 7 – fodder root crops. Such crop rotations are often used in dairy cattle farms under stall-and-pasture conditions.

On pig farms, crop rotations with intermediate crops are used to organize a green conveyor and to obtain grass meal:

1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses; 2-5 – perennial grasses; 6 – winter rye forage with two mowing periods + post-mowing annual grasses; 7 – annual ryegrass with different mowing periods;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses; 2-5 – perennial grasses; 6 – winter rye for green fodder + post-mowing sowing of annual sauerkraut; 7 – annual grasses + undersowing of annual ryegrass.

The most valuable preceding crops in on-farm crop rotations are perennial grasses and row crops, therefore it is advisable to use their aftereffect to obtain high yields of grain forage and other cereal crops. For this purpose, the structure of sown areas is changed, and grass-row crop rotations are transformed into cereal-grass-row crop rotations with prolongation of rotation up to 8 years:

1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter cereals, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – spring cereals, 6 – fodder root crops and potatoes, 7 – spring cereals, 8 – annual forage grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1-2 – perennial grasses; 3 – corn for silage; 4 – fodder root crops and potatoes; 5 – spring cereals; 6 – corn for silage; 7 – spring cereals; 8 – annual grasses for forage with undersowing of perennial grasses.

Cereal-row on-farm forage crop rotations, as a rule, have a short rotation, in which row crops and cereals occupy approximately equal areas, replacing each other. For example: 1 – corn for silage, 2 – cereals, 3 – potatoes and forage root crops, 4 – cereals. Cereal-row crop rotations have no perennial grasses, but annual grasses or leguminous plants are possible as predecessors of winter cereals: 1 – annual grasses or leguminous crops, 2 – winter cereals, 3-4 – silage corn, 5 – spring cereals, 6 – fodder root crops and potatoes.

Examples of on-farm crop rotations (for Russian)

Examples of on-farm crop rotations:

1 – winter or spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years of use, 4 – forage root crops and potatoes, 5 – corn for silage;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses of the 1-2nd year of use, 4 – silage, 5 – forage root crops;
1 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses of the 1-2nd year of use, 4 – silage crops, 5 – forage root crops, 6 – corn for green fodder and silage, 7 – forage root crops;
1 – silage crops, 2 – forage root crops and silage, 3 – legume-mint mixtures for green fodder and silage, 4 – winter wheat;
1 – annual grasses for green fodder, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – forage roots and potatoes, 4 – silage crops;
1 – annual grasses; 2 – winter crops for green forage with post-mowing sowing of forage sprouts or with planting of potatoes; 3 – forage root crops and potatoes; 4 – corn for green forage and silage; 5 – forage root crops and silage crops;
1 – annual grasses or rape (winter, spring), 2 – forage root crops, 3 – corn for silage (non-rotation field), 4 – late potatoes, 5 – sunflower for forage, 6 – early potatoes;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of clover, 2-3 – clover of the 1st and 2nd years of use, 4-5 – corn for silage, 6 – forage root crops, 7 – potatoes.

Non-Black Soil Zone

In the central regions of the Non-Black Soil Zone, 3-4-5-field on-farm row crop rotations are used on cohesive soils:

1 – corn for silage, 2 – forage root crops, 3 – silage early crops, 4 – winter cereals;
1-2 – corn, 3 – forage root crops;
1 – annual grasses with undersowing of clover, 2 – clover, 3 – potatoes, 4 – forage root crops, 5 – corn for silage.

The following rotation is used on light soils: 1 – corn for silage or green fodder + winter intermediate crops for green fodder, 2 – lupine for green fodder, 3 – potatoes and forage root crops, 4 – forage crops.

On some specialized farms crop rotation is effective: 1-2 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years of use, 3 – silage crops, 4 – forage root crops, 5 – vetch-oat mixture, 6 – winter crops for green fodder with undersowing of perennial grasses. Under the condition of high level of agrotechnics, perennial grasses and vetch-oat mixture show higher yield of green mass.

Silage crops and forage root crops coming immediately and one year after perennial grasses, as well as winter crops cultivated after vetch-oat mixture give high yields of green mass and succulent fodder.

In on-farm crop rotations specializing in row crops, their specific weight can be more than 50%.

Forest-steppe and steppe zones

In areas of sufficient moisture and irrigated lands of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Russia as on-farm crop rotations are used grass-row species of crop rotations, with approximately equal areas occupied by crops of row crops and perennial and annual grasses.

Crops in these rotations are grouped in such a way that two rotation periods are formed – row and grasses. For example:

1 – annual grasses for fodder with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – forage root crops, 6 – corn for silage;
1 – annual grasses for fodder with undersowing with perennial grasses, 2-3 – perennial grasses, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – forage root crops and potatoes, 6 – annual grasses for green fodder + intermediate crops for fodder.

Southern regions

In the southern regions of Russia, perennial grasses are often cultivated in the non-rotation fields. For example, the following crop rotation for a dairy farm was introduced in Belorechensk district of Krasnodar Krai: 1 – winter rye mixed with winter vetch for green fodder and post-mowing Sudanese grass, 2 – vetch-oat mixture for green fodder and post-mowing corn for green fodder, 3 – fodder beets + fodder gourds, 4 – Sudanese grass, 5 – corn with soybean for green fodder or silage, 6 – lucerne in the non-rotation field with 4-5 years of use. This set of crops provides dairy cattle with green fodder from spring to late autumn.

In the Kuban regions, alfalfa is cultivated in the non-rotation field during 4-5 years of use, which significantly increases the average green mass yield per unit area.

In arid areas, annual grasses give greater yields than perennial grasses, so more fields with annual grasses, for example, melilot, which give good yields in these conditions, prevail in on-farm crop rotations. An example of a crop rotation: 1 – corn and sorghum for silage, 2 – annual grasses for green top dressing, 3 – winter rye for early top dressing with sowing after its harvest of annual grasses for late green top dressing with seeding of melilot, 4 – melilot of the 1st year of use for green top dressing, 5 – melilot of the 2nd year of use for green top dressing and for silage, 6 – fodder melons (fodder pumpkin, watermelon), 7 – annual grasses.

Hay and pasture forage crop rotation

The main purpose of a hay and pasture forage rotation is the production of hay and green pasture fodder. It is based on crops of perennial grasses with a long period of use, dominating in the structure of sown areas of grass-field or multi-field-grass crop rotation.

The share of low-transportable crops such as root crops, melons or silage crops is small or absent altogether. The simplest example of a hay and pasture crop rotation: 1-7 are perennial grasses, 8 are annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses.

These crop rotations, as a rule, are placed on remote massifs, low-yielding natural forage lands, meadows, floodplains of rivers, drained bogs, on lower parts of arable land slopes during creation of cultivated pastures and meadows.

They differ from the on-farm ones in the composition of forage crops and their ratio. Complex grass mixtures consisting of 2-3 or more perennial grasses and 2-3 or more perennial leguminous grasses are used in hay and pasture crop rotations. For example, meadow clover, hybrid clover, creeping clover, meadow timothy, meadow fescue, meadow bluegrass, white bentgrass.

The effectiveness and duration of perennial grasses in hay and pasture forage crop rotations depend on soil, hydrological, agrotechnical conditions and methods of their use.

On dense soils with stagnant water for perennial grasses there are anaerobic conditions, the negative impact of which on the growth and development of perennial grasses increases every year. As a result, the composition of herbage changes, yields and quality of forages decrease. On such plots the duration of perennial grasses use does not exceed 7 years.

On the contrary, well-drained soils with the application of fertilizers, irrigation, periodic undersowing of perennial grasses and proper management can increase the period of their use up to 20-30 years, creating on such plots long-term cultivated pastures and hayfields with high productivity.

In some areas of Russia, different types of grass mixtures are sown, adapted to the conditions of the soil and climatic zone, taking into account the requirements of the specialization of the farm. Thus, hay and pasture rotations complement the on-farm forage crop rotations.

Multicomponent mixtures of perennial leguminous and cereal grasses, which include up to 4-5 and more species, are effective for long-term use. Multicomponent mixtures are more resistant to multiple mowing and pasturing as well as to unfavorable conditions of overwintering or violation of water regime during warm periods, to mechanical effect of machinery or trampling by cattle.

In the first two years of life, perennial grasses are not dense enough turf, and as a result, there is a risk of trampling by cattle. Therefore, in the first years after sowing, grass is used for making hay, haylage, grass meal, and from the third year – for pasturing livestock. For these purposes, in hay-pasture forage crop rotations several fields are allocated annually, used as variable pastures of short term use – from 2 to 5 years.

Thus, the total time of use of perennial grasses is 4-7 years. During this time, perennial grasses form a strong turf, which improves the structure and fertility indicators of the soil, contributes to the accumulation of organic matter in the soil. But anaerobic conditions caused by soil compaction, as well as physiological aging of grasses leads to thinning of crops and deterioration of herbage composition, the number of weeds accumulates. This is the reason for the 4-7-year period of using perennial grasses, after which the field is ploughed and annual crops are cultivated on it for several years.

Thus, the rotation of hay and pasture forage crop rotation can be divided into two periods – meadow and field. During the meadow period the fields are occupied by perennial grasses, during the field period – annual crops. The duration of the meadow period is 3-7 years, while the field period is 2-4 years.

Field, technical and forage crops are cultivated as annual crops, for example, in the fields adjacent to farms – corn for silage, annual grass and forage root crops, annual grasses, in remote fields – fiber flax, cereals, annual grasses. In the first case there may be the following crop rotation: 1-7 – perennial grasses, 8 – corn for silage, 9 – forage root crops, 10 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses. For remote areas and on soils subject to erosion the variant of meadow-pasture crop rotation is suitable: 1-7 – perennial grasses, 8 – winter cereals, 9 – fiber flax and spring cereals, 10 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses.

Examples of hay and pasture crop rotations

Depending on the specialization of farms and soil conditions the general schemes of hay and pasture crop rotations may be as follows:

1 – annual grasses with undersowing of perennial grasses, 2-5 – perennial grasses of the 1st-4th year of use, 6 – spring grain forage;
1-2 – perennial grasses 1-2 years of use for hay, 3-4 – perennial grasses 3-4 years of use for pasturing, 5 – annual grasses, 6 – winter cereals for green fodder with post-mowing sowing of fodder crops (annual grasses, fodder cabbage, turnip), 7 – spring grain-fodder crops with undersowing of perennial grasses;
1-2 – perennial grasses of the 1-2nd year for hay, 3-4 – perennial grasses of the 3-4rd year for pasturing, 5 – perennial grasses of the 5th year for pasturing, winter cereals, 6 – winter, silage or forage root crops.

Ramensky district of the Moscow Region uses the following scheme of rotation: 1-4 – perennial grasses of the 1-4-th year of use, 5 – mixed vetch-oat, 6 – corn, 7 – forage root crops, 8 – oats with undersowing of perennial grasses. Perennial grasses account for half of the area, silage and root crops – 25%, vetch-oat mixture and oats – 25%.

Five- and six-field hay and pasture crop rotations are recommended in the Belgorod region: 1-3 – perennial grasses of the 1st-3rd year of use, 4 – winter cereals, 5 – oats with undersowing of perennial grasses.

In Vurnarskiy district of Chuvashia Republic hay and pasture crop rotation was introduced: 1-4 – perennial grasses of 1-4 years of use for hay, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – oats with undersowing of perennial grasses. In this crop rotation 2/3 of sown areas are occupied by perennial grasses and 1/3 by cereals. The third and fourth year of perennial grasses is economically justified where old-age mixtures do not reduce yields and serve as good pastures for livestock.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Field crop rotations

22.11.2021

Field crop rotations are the most universal type of crop rotations, the main task of which is the effective use of arable land with constant reproduction of soil fertility and obtaining high yields of crops.

Due to the fact that different crops have different requirements for living conditions, which in turn may differ greatly depending on the climatic zone, the universality of field crop rotations most fully meet the requirements of agricultural production under specific conditions. For example, conditions of the North Caucasus are more suitable for cultivation of winter wheat, corn, sunflower, sugar beet, while conditions of the Non-Black Soil Zone of Russia are more favorable for cultivation of potato, fiber flax.

In the European part of Russia, a large set of crops allows the introduction of crop rotations with a long rotation. For example, in the Central Black Earth zone, Kuban, South-East the rotation is 9-10 years, often reaching 11-12 years. In the Non-Black Soil Zone the rotation duration is usually 6-8 years, in the east of Russia due to the relatively small set of crops the duration of the crop rotation is usually 4-5 years.

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Crop rotation

Sections of field crop rotations

Many-field field crop rotation consists of separate sections, correlated as a predecessor-consecutive crop. The sections in the crop rotation are connected with each other.

As a rule, a section consists of 2-3 heterogeneous crops, starting with the best preceding crop and one or two following ones.

The construction of crop rotation begins with the construction of individual sections. After determining the number of crops and the total number of fields included in the cropping pattern, the most important food or industrial crops are identified, for which the best predecessors are chosen. The resulting sections become the basis of the crop rotation.

Fallow section

The fallow section of the crop rotation is primarily bare fallow. Common fallow sections:

fallow-winter crops-winter crops;
fallow-spring cereals-spring cereals;
fallow-winter crops-spring cereals;
par-winter crops;
fallow-spring cereals.

Cereal-fallow crop rotations are essentially different combinations of fallow sections. In the arid regions of the south-east and east of Russia, 4- and 5-field cereal-fallow crop rotations are common, including one field of bare strip fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat and one combined field with leguminous and groats crops or a field of cereal forage crops. For example, a four-field cereal-fallow crop rotation includes a cereal-fallow section with repeated sowing of wheat and a cereal-forage crops field: 1 – bare strip fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat, 4 – barley.

Cereal, leguminous and groats crops in such crop rotations account for up to 75-80% of the arable area, which is typical for cereal specialization of agricultural farms in eastern Russia, which are the suppliers of marketable spring wheat grain.

Cereal section

The basis of a cereal section is a cereal crop – winter or spring rye or wheat, barley, oats and leguminous (peas) or groats (buckwheat, millet) predecessor of a continuous crop.

Cereal sections allow to build field crop rotations of grain specialization in combination with fallow sections. For example: 1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat, 4 – millet, 5 – spring wheat.

In alternation with other sections, they allow for more effective implementation of the principles of changing crops, specialization, compatibility, and others.

Row section

The main group of crops in row sections is row crops, which are predecessors of cereals, leguminous, and groats.

For example:

potato-barley;
corn for silage – winter wheat;
corn-pea-winter wheat;
sugar beet-barley, etc.

Combinations of fallow, row and cereal sections form a variety of cereal-fallow-row crop rotations, for example: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – cereals, 3 – row crops, 4 – cereals. In this example, half of the cereals are sown on the best predecessors. In terms of efficiency this rotation is comparable to cereal-grass-row crop rotation.

Another five-field example, with 60% of cereals is: 1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – cereals, 4 – row crops, 5 – cereals. In the six-fielded rotation the share of cereals could be increased up to 2/3 (67%) due to a combination of fallow and row sections: 1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – cereals, 4 – row crops, 5-6 – cereals. The rotation of this crop rotation can be lengthened by the third cereal section, for example: 1 – fallow, 2-3 – cereals, 4 – legumes or groats, 5 – cereals, 6 – row crops, 7-8 – cereals.

Due to the possibility of combining these three sections with different number of crop fields, it provides unlimited opportunities for building field crop rotations.

Depending on soil and climatic conditions different crops can be selected as the main cereal crops, for example, winter wheat is used for the Non-Black Earth, forest-steppe and steppe zones of European Russia and the North Caucasus, while spring wheat is used in eastern Russia – the Southern Urals, Western Siberia and Trans-Urals, Altai. In the Southeast, Lower and Middle Volga region, and some forest-steppe regions of the country, winter cereals are combined with spring cereal crops. In this case, winter rye or wheat is placed on a bare fallow, and spring – after row crops and winter crops. For example: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – row crops, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – spring cereal forage (barley or oats).

Winter barley is grown in the North Caucasus, and winter wheat and barley may account for up to 50% in 10-12-field crop rotations. With 2-3 row sections in such crop rotations, winter crops may be placed with row crops with an early harvesting date, such as corn for silage.

Grass section

In the basis of grasses section are laid perennial grasses, which are usually used for fodder and seeds for 2-3 years. In areas with sufficient moisture and on irrigated lands, they are good predecessors of winter wheat and winter rye. Clover and its mixtures with cereal grasses are the best predecessors of fiber flax.

Examples of grass sections:

1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter crops;
1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – flax-fibre.

Due to the effect of perennial grasses on subsequent crops, which persists for 2-3 years, grass links can have longer variants:

1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter cereals, 4 – fiber flax;
1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter cereals, 4 – spring cereals;
row crops can be planted 1 year after perennial grasses: 1-2 – perennial grasses, 3 – winter crops, 4 – row crops. In this case there is a transition to a row section.

Grass sections are part of cereal-grass-row crop rotations in areas with sufficient moisture.

In the south of Russia in field crop rotations alfalfa grass section is used:

1-2 – alfalfa, 3 – winter wheat, 4 – spring cereal forages;
1-2 – alfalfa, 3-4 – winter wheat;
1 – alfalfa (non-rotation field), 2 – winter wheat.

Row crops can be planted one year after alfalfa: 1-2 – alfalfa, 3 – winter wheat, 4 – sugar beet or corn.

In Transcaucasia, in irrigated areas, grass section with alfalfa is part of lucerne crop rotations. In 7-8-field crop rotations, alfalfa is cultivated for 2-3 years, and 4-5 years of permanent crops of cotton are successfully used.

Non-rotation field of the crop rotation

A non-rotation field, also the withdrawn or emergency field, is a crop rotation field temporarily withdrawn from the rotation, which is occupied by one of the crops for several years.

The need for a non-rotation field is determined by the economic feasibility of using perennial grass crops for a long time in such a structure of cultivated areas, which allows having only one such field. For example, in the following scheme: 1 – alfalfa, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – corn, 4 – barley, 5 – clean fallow, 6 – winter wheat with alfalfa underplanting; for a six-year rotation it is necessary to plow alfalfa annually and also annually underplant it under winter wheat. However, the maximum yield of alfalfa is in the 2-3rd year of use, so plowing it in the first year is inexpedient. In addition, it leads to additional costs for alfalfa seed.

On the other hand, leaving alfalfa in the crop rotation for three years, for example, means that three fields of the crop rotation are allocated to it or half of all arable land, which in turn contradicts the structure of cropping areas, providing only 16.7% of arable land for alfalfa.

To solve this problem, a non-rotation field with alfalfa is used, which is taken out of the rotation for 2-6 years. For example, when using alfalfa for 3 years, the third year the field will be withdrawn from the rotation, and the rotation scheme for the remaining fields will look as follows: 1 – winter wheat, 2 – corn, 3 – barley, 4 – clean fallow, 5 – winter wheat. In our example, in the third year of rotation in the wheat field is seeded alfalfa, and in the next fourth year this field with alfalfa is withdrawn for three years from the rotation. While the field, which was previously taken out under the alfalfa, ploughed under the sowing of winter crops, and it is again included in the rotation. According to this scheme act with each field of the rotation every three years.

The scheme of such alternation is presented in the table. It follows that the total rotation is 18 years, consisting of three five-year rotations without alfalfa and three-year use of alfalfa in each field of the six.

Table. Rotation table of 6-field crop rotation (1 - bare fallow, 2 - winter crops with alfalfa undersowing, 3 - alfalfa, 4 - winter crops, 5 - corn, 6 - barley) with an non-rotation alfalfa field of three-year use^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Year	No. of fields and crops
	I	II	III	IV	V	VI
1997 1998 1999	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use	Winter crops Corn Barley	Corn Barley Fallow	Barley Fallow Winter crops	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops with alfalfa undersowing	Winter crops Winter crops Corn
2000 2001 2002	Winter crops Corn Barley	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops with alfalfa undersowing	Winter crops Winter crops Corn	Winter crops Corn Barley	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use	Barley Fallow Winter crops
2003 2004 2005	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use	Barley Fallow Winter crops	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops with alfalfa undersowing	Winter crops Corn Barley	Winter crops Corn Barley
2006 2007 2008	Corn Barley Fallow	Winter crops Corn Barley	Winter crops Corn Barley	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops with alfalfa undersowing
2009 2010 2011	Winter crops Winter crops Corn	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops with alfalfa undersowing	Winter crops Corn Barley	Corn Barley Fallow	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use
2012 2013 2014	Barley Fallow Winter crops	Corn Barley Fallow	Alfalfa 1 year of use Alfalfa 2 years of use Alfalfa 3 years of use	Fallow Winter crops Winter crops	Winter crops Winter crops Corn	Winter crops Corn Barley

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Zonal peculiarities of field crop rotations (for Russia)

Non-Black Soil Zone

Cereal field crop rotations

In the areas of the Non-Black Soil Zone with the expansion of sown areas for food and fodder crops, saturation of crop rotations is possible through a combination of winter and spring cereals with leguminous and cereal crops, as well as the replacement of bare fallow with seeded. For example: 1 – leguminous crops, 2 – winter wheat or rye, 3 – spring cereals with underplanting of clover, 4 – clover of the 1st year of use, 5 – winter wheat, 6 – barley, 7 – potatoes, 8 – oats. In this crop rotation, cereals and legumes account for 75% of the arable land, and each crop is in a good predecessor.

Cereal crop rotations with two fields of perennial grasses are characterized by high agrotechnical and economic qualities: 1-2 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years of use, 3 – winter wheat, 4 – spring cereals, 5 – peas, 6 – winter rye or winter wheat, 7 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses. Cereals and leguminous crops account for 71.3% of the arable area. Such crop rotation has a favorable effect on fertility and phytosanitary condition of the soil, as well as crop yields.

In cereal-grass crop rotations saturation with cereals and leguminous crops can be brought to 80% and more:

1 – clover of the 1st year of use, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring cereals, 4 – peas, 5 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover (80%);
1 – clover seeded fallow, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring cereals, 4 – early types of peas, 5 – winter cereals, 6 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover (83%).

Low fertility sandy and sandy loam soils, for example, in the Bryansk region, introduce the following crop rotation: 1 – lupine, 2 – winter rye, 3 – barley, 4 – peas, 5 – winter rye or wheat, 6 – corn for silage, 7 – winter rye. Cereals and leguminous plants account for 70% of the arable area.

Replacement of bare fallows with leguminous or groats crops allows saturation with cereals up to 60-65% and higher in crop rotations of agricultural enterprises in Belarus and the Baltic states.

Potato crop rotations

Potatoes in the Non-Black Soil Zone take a significant place in the structure of sown areas. The best results are obtained in farms with at least 200-300 hectares under potatoes, which creates more favorable conditions for on-farm specialization and effective use of machinery, high level of agricultural technology and organization of labor.

According to the All-Russian Institute of Potato Farming, in crop rotations that specialize in the cultivation of potatoes, it can occupy two or three fields. For example, in Moscow region, crop rotations have been introduced and adopted: 1-2 – perennial grasses of the 1-2nd year of use, 3 – winter wheat or spring cereals, 4 – early potatoes, 5 – winter rye or winter wheat, 6 – legumes + early potatoes, 7 – winter wheat, 8 – late potatoes, 9 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses. Potatoes account for 27%, cereals and legumes – 51%, perennial grasses – 22% of the arable area. This crop rotation has a positive effect on fertility and phytosanitary state of the soil.

For higher specialization (up to 38% of the area) field crop rotations are recommended: 1 – early potatoes, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – late potatoes, 4 – oats with undersowing of clover, 5 – 1st year clover, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – late potatoes, 8 – spring cereals. Crops are placed in this rotation on good predecessors.

High fertility soils allow increasing the potato saturation according to the following scheme of rotation: 1 – early potatoes, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – late potatoes, 4 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover, 5 – 1st year clover, 6 – early potatoes + sowing of stubble crop, 7 – late potatoes, 8 – vetch-oat mixture. In this case, up to 50% of the area is allocated to potatoes, and all crops are good predecessors.

According to the All-Russian Potato Research Institute, the yield of fodder units of crop rotation increases as the share of potatoes increases. However, the use of permanent and repeated planting of potatoes leads to a decrease in yields and the development of diseases and pests.

Short rotation potato crop rotations are also used:

1 – early potatoes, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – fodder beets or silage crops;
1 – early potatoes, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – potatoes, 4 – silage crops;
1 – early potatoes, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – potatoes, 4 – leguminous crops.

Flax crop rotations

On highly fertile soils in agricultural enterprises specializing in the cultivation of flax, there is a need to saturate crop rotations with this crop up to 12-15%. For example, in the Smolensk region there are the following crop rotations: 1 – seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat with undersowing of clover, 3 – clover of the 1st year of use, 4 – clover of the 2nd year of use, 5 – flax, 6 – spring cereals, 7 – potatoes, 8 – spring cereals. Flax accounts for 12.5% of the arable land area.

Field crop rotations are widespread in Tver region: 1 – seeded fallow, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover, 4 – clover of the 1st year of use, 5 – flax, 6 – potatoes, 7 – spring cereals. Flax accounts for 14.3% of the area.

In both crop rotations, all crops are in good predecessors. According to the All-Russian Research Institute of Flax, on the cultivated soils of the Non-Chernozem zone with sufficient fertilization, it is advisable to place flax one year after perennial grasses, for example, after potatoes or winter cereals that go after perennial grasses. On poor soils with insufficient fertilization flax is placed after perennial grasses.

Central Black Earth zone

The Central Black Earth zone is characterized by cereal, beet, and forage specialization of crop rotations or their combinations. Cereals, row crops, forage, technical and other crops are cultivated in this zone. Leading among them: winter and spring wheat, winter rye, barley, sugar beet, corn, sunflower, potatoes, peas and lentils.

Natural and economic conditions are important in the structure of sown areas. In areas with sufficient moisture, seeded fallows show greater production returns than crop rotations with bare fallows.

Various scientific institutions recommend the following model crop rotations for the Central Black Earth zone: 1 – seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses, 5 – perennial grasses of the first year of use, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – sugar beet, 8 – pea, 9 – winter wheat, 10 – corn for grain. Sugar beet accounts for 20% of the area, a large share is also accounted for by cereals, legumes and corn. If it is necessary to increase the share of sugar beet up to 30%, it is placed in the tenth field instead of corn.

In areas of insufficient and unstable moisture, where the balance of moisture is of particular importance, the role of bare fallow increases.

On soils at risk of erosion, in crop rotations with lower specific weight of row crops, in which sugar beet occupies one field, the following alternations are used:

1 – early seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – barley with undersowing of perennial grasses, 5-6 – perennial grasses of 1-2 years of use, 7 – winter wheat, 8 – peas, 9 – winter wheat, 10 – spring cereals and winter rye;
1 – perennial grasses of the 1st use, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – barley, 5 – pea, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – millet, 8 – spring cereals with undersowing of perennial grasses.

An important condition for saturation of specialized crop rotations with cereals is greater diversity of crops. This makes it possible to increase the share of cereals up to 65-75%:

1 – clover of the 1st year of use, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – spring cereals, 5 – corn for silage, 6 – winter rye, 7 – cereals and potatoes, 8 – leguminous crops, 9 – winter wheat, 10 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover;
1 – bare or seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – barley, 5 – peas, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – corn for grain, 8 – barley, 9 – corn, sunflower, 10 – spring cereals;
1 – bare or seeded fallow, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – spring cereals, 5 – leguminous crops, 6 – winter cereals, 7 – cereals or corn, 8 – spring cereals.

In the east of the Central Black Earth zone with unstable moisture, the following crop rotation is used: 1 – bare or seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – barley and millet with undersowing of sainfoin, 5 – sainfoin, 6 – winter rye, 7 – sugar beet, 8 – corn, 9 – spring wheat, 10 – sunflower. Grain crops account for not more than 50%, sugar beet – 20% of the arable area, while maintaining the principle of alternation of crops.

North Caucasus

Cereal specialization

Cereals and leguminous crops – winter wheat, barley, corn, peas, sugar beet, sunflower – take the leading place in agriculture in the North Caucasus. Scientifically justified combination of these crops in crop rotations allows to receive high yields of grain and other products. In recent years, cereal-fallow-row, cereal-row and row crop rotations have been widely introduced, and, to a lesser extent, cereal-grass-row and grass field crop rotations have been introduced.

For the Northern regions of Rostov region the following field crop rotations are recommended, including bare fallow (15-20%) and wheat (40-50%): 1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – winter wheat, 6 – bare fallow (1/2 field) and leguminous crops (1/2 field), 7 – winter wheat, 8 – winter wheat or corn for grain, 9 – barley, 10 – sunflower. Cereals and legumes account for 65% of the area.

In the southern districts of the Rostov Region, crop rotations with saturation with cereals up to 70% or more are recommended:

1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – leguminous crops, 5-6 – winter wheat, 7 – corn for silage, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – sunflower, 10 – barley;
1 – bare fallow, 2 – 3 – winter wheat, 4 – peas, 5-6 – winter wheat, 7 – corn for grain, 8 – barley, 9 – sunflower, 10 – barley.

In the second crop rotation, cereals, corn, and peas account for 80% of the arable area. Such a highly saturated with cereals crop rotation requires a high level of agrotechnics and carrying out of field works in given periods, scientifically grounded application of optimal doses of fertilizers and chemical means of pest and weed control.

In areas where droughts do not manifest themselves under the condition of weak weed infestation of the fields apply a semi-steam system of tillage without clean fallows. For example, in Salsky district of Rostov region in the state farm “Gigant,” successfully introduced a crop rotation that gives high yields of grain: 1 – seeded fallow, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – peas, 5-6 – winter wheat, 7 – seeded fallow, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – corn on grain, 10 – spring barley.

The following field crop rotations are used in arid areas of Stavropol Krai:

1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – corn for silage, 5-6 – winter wheat, 7 – corn for silage, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – corn for grain or sunflower, 10 – spring barley;
1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – silage row crops, oats + legumes for forage, 5 – winter or spring barley, 6 – bare fallow or legumes, 7 – winter wheat, 8 – sunflower or sorghum for grain.

In the cereal and cattle breeding zone of the Stavropol Territory, cereal-row and cereal-fallow-row parable eight- and nine-field crop rotations prevail:

1 – seeded fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – pea, 5-6 winter wheat, 7 – sunflower, 8 – corn for silage, 9 – winter barley;
1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – corn for silage, 5 – winter wheat, 6 – castor beans, 7 – peas, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – sunflower.

In the northern districts of Krasnodar Krai, cereal-fallow-row crop rotations with a 70% share of cereals have been introduced. Cereal-fallow crop rotations are widespread in most central and southern districts of the region, which use seeded fallows or silage crops instead of bare fallow.

Crops for seeded fallows can be: Hungarian sainfoin, annual grasses, peas, corn for green forage or silage. Thus, in cereal-row crop rotations the share of cereals is 70-80% of the area: 1 – Hungarian sainfoin or corn for silage, 2-3 – winter wheat, 4 – corn for grain, 5-6 – winter wheat, 7 – peas, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – sunflower, 10 – spring or winter barley. Under conditions of sufficient moisture, field crop rotations with one or two fields of alfalfa are introduced.

Even with the maximum saturation of crop rotations of cereal crops in the conditions of the Kuban, Don and Stavropol winter crops are not placed over winter crops for more than two years, strictly follow the order of alternation of cereals with row crops and leguminous crops, etc. Correct alternation is combined with good tillage and application of fertilizers in sufficient quantities, the use of varietal seed material.

Beet specialization

For the zone of the North Caucasus, where farms specialize in sugar beet cultivation, the All-Russian Research Institute of Sugar Beet branch recommends field crop rotations with the cultivation of sugar beet on winter wheat after early occupied fallows and the second field – on winter wheat following early silage corn or on winter wheat following the layer of perennial grasses of the 1st year of use.

In Northern Caucasus crop rotations, sugar beet may occupy two or three fields; in regions with insufficient moisture – one field, and it should be placed on winter wheat, which goes on bare fallow. Example: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – sugar beet, 4 – barley with undersowing sainfoin, 5 – sainfoin, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – corn, 8 – winter wheat, 9 – sunflower, 10 – winter barley or winter wheat.

Intermediate crops

Cereal-row and row crop rotations with maximum saturation with intermediate stubble crops are introduced under conditions of sufficient moisture in the Krasnodar Territory. In Kuban, millet, Sudan grass, corn, buckwheat, winter peas, etc. are used as stubble crops.

Volga Region

Cereals also occupy a leading place in the Volga region. In recent years, there has been a tendency to expand the sowing of winter cereals. In the forest-steppe part, good predecessor crops of winter cereals are bare and seeded fallow and peas.

Specialized crop rotations saturated with cereals and peas are common in Tatarstan and nearby regions. According to the Tatar Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture the following crop rotations are recommended for dark grey forest soils: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter rye, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – peas, 5 – winter rye, 6 – barley. Cereals and leguminous plants in this crop rotation account for 83% of the arable area. In areas with sufficient moisture in the first field instead of bare fallow, pea seeded fallow is placed.

Cereal-fallow-row crop rotations with a large share of spring cereal crops, mainly spring wheat, are common in the arid areas of the Volga region. Winter crops are grown mainly after bare and strip fallows: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter cereals, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – oats or barley, 5 – strip fallow, 6 – winter cereals, 7 – spring wheat, 8 – spring wheat, 9 – Sudan grass. In this crop rotation cereals occupy 67% of the area, bare fallow – 22%, and annual grasses – 11%. At the same time, cereals are placed on cereals after fallow for three years in a row.

Crop rotation was successfully introduced in Volgograd region: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – winter wheat, 3 – corn, 4 – spring wheat, 5 – millet and pea, 6 – winter wheat, 7 – spring wheat, 8 – sunflower, 9 – spring wheat, 10 – barley. 70% of the area is devoted to cereals, 20% to row crops, and 10% to bare fallow.

In dry years in the south-east of the Volga region it is advisable to place spring wheat after fallows, under these conditions it shows higher yields.

Specialized cereal crop rotations on irrigated lands include alfalfa. Cereals, corn and peas account for up to 67-71% of the area:

1 – spring wheat with alfalfa underplanting, 2-3 – alfalfa of 1-2 years of use, 4-5 – spring wheat, 6 – winter wheat + stubble crop;
1 – alfalfa of the 1st year of use, 2 – alfalfa of the 2nd year of use, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – winter wheat + stubble crop, 5 – peas, corn, 6 – spring wheat, 7 – spring wheat with undersowing of alfalfa.

Steppe and forest-steppe regions of Siberia

In the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Siberia, the leading crop is spring wheat and barley as forage crops; the main crop production branch is cereal production. Cereals account for 60-70% of arable land in the structure of crop rotations. In some districts of the zone, there are cultivated red-root, sunflower, mustard, oil flax, perennial and annual grasses, corn and sunflower for silage.

The best predecessors of spring wheat in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Siberia are bare or strip fallows, then corn for green forage or early silage, perennial and annual grasses, and leguminous crops. In addition, repeated sowing of spring wheat is used. In this zone, as well as in Kazakhstan, the most effective are cereal-fallow, cereal-fallow-grass, cereal-fallow-row crop rotations with placement, if necessary, of perennial grasses in the non-rotation fields.

The following field crop rotations are introduced in Siberia and Kazakhstan:

1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat, 4 – grain forage. This crop rotation refers to the cereal-fallow, the share of spring cereals 75%, bare fallow 25% of the arable land;
1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat, 4 – row crops, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – barley. The species of crop rotation is cereal-fallow-row, the share of spring cereals – 2/3 (67%), row crops – 16.7% and bare fallow – 16.7% of the arable land.

To provide livestock with hay and silage fodder while obtaining a large yield of grain the following crop rotation is recommended: 1 – corn for silage, 2-3 – spring wheat, 4 – forage grains.

In the steppe and black earth forest-steppe zone five-field cereal-fallow crop rotation is effective:

1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring wheat, 3 – peas, 4 – spring wheat, 5 – forage crops;
1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring wheat or winter rye, 3 – spring wheat, 4 – vetch-oat mixture or leguminous crops, 5 – spring wheat and grain forage.

Cereals and leguminous crops account for 80% in these crop rotations, while bare fallow accounts for 20%.

In the forest-steppe, sub-taiga, and taiga regions, cereal-fallow-row and cereal-grass crop rotations are used:

1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring wheat, 3 – forage crops, 4 – corn or annual grasses, 5 – spring wheat, 6 – forage crops;
1 – bare fallow, 2-3 – spring wheat with undersowing of perennial grasses, 4-5 – perennial grasses of the 1-2nd year of use, 6-7 – spring wheat, 8 – corn, 9 – spring wheat, 10 – barley and oats.

On a par with bare fallow, perennial grasses are the best predecessor of spring wheat and subsequent crops.

Krasnoyarsk Territory uses crop rotation with the share of cereals – 57%, clover – 29% and bare fallow – 14%: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring cereals, 3 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover, 4-5 – clover 1-2 years of use, 6 – spring wheat or flax, 7 – grain forage.

In the steppe zone of Eastern Siberia it is advisable to use cereal-fallow-row crop rotations on fertile soils: 1 – bare fallow, 2 – spring wheat, 3 – corn, 4 – grain forage.

Far East

In the Far East, special crop rotations are used in the soybean growing areas:

1 – bare or seeded fallow, 2 – spring wheat, 3 – soybeans, 4 – spring grain forage, 5 – soybeans (soybeans – 40%);
1 – clover of the 1st year of use, 2 – soybeans, 3 – wheat, 4 – soybeans, 5 – spring cereals with undersowing of clover (soybeans – 40%);
1 – seeded fallow, 2 – wheat, 3 – soybean, 4 – wheat, 5 – soybean, 6 – spring cereals, 7 – soybean (soybean – 43%).

On light soils, cereal-soybean crop rotations include row crops such as corn, potatoes, and others.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Intermediate crops

21.11.2021

Intermediate crops – crops of the crop rotation, sown in the field after harvesting the main crop in the same year, in order to obtain additional yields.

Most crops occupy the field during 50-70% of the warm period of the year. For example, in the Non-Black Soil Zone, after harvesting spring and winter cereals, fields remain unoccupied for two to three months. During this period 100-150 mm of precipitations fall and the sum of active temperatures reaches 1000 °С, or 30-40% of agroclimatic resources of warm period of the year. The number of frost-free days can reach 65-70 days. This is enough to produce an additional yield of stubbles, single-cut (after mowing the grass), sub-sowing or sideral crops to be used as green forage or green fertilizer. There may also be enough time left in the spring when sowing late spring crops to get an additional crop of green mass of winter crops.

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Crop rotation

Types of intermediate crops

A stubble crop is an intermediate crop sown after the main cereal crop has been harvested.

Post-mowing crops (single-cut) are intermediate crops sown after the main crop is harvested, such as winter rye, annual grasses used for green fodder, hay, or silage. As a rule, post-mowing crops are sown earlier than stubble crops.

The same crops as for stubby crops are used as post-mowing crops as well as fodder rutabaga and cabbage (by sprouting), annual legume mixtures, pea or bean mixtures with mustard, etc.

Winter intermediate crops are crops sown after the main crop is harvested in autumn to provide green fodder in early spring. These include rye, triticale, colza, vetch, winter peas or mixtures of winter rye and vetch.

Overseeding crops are intermediate crops that are sown in the spring under the cover of the main crop, for example, winter or spring cereals, annual legume mixtures. Overseeding crops remain in the field after the main crop is harvested and give a crop of green mass for the rest of the season. Winter and spring vetch, seradella, annual ryegrass, lupine, peas, clover, sainfoin, and melil are used as overseeding crops.

The importance of intermediate crops

Intermediate crops, along with seeded fallows, are elements of intensive farming. Replacement of bare fallow with seeded fallow in conditions of sufficient moisture can increase the coefficient of utilization of arable land to unity, the use of intermediate crops make it higher than unity.

Wide use of fertilizers, irrigation, modern cultivation technologies enables to increase productivity of one hectare of arable land in Volga and Kuban regions up to 20-25 thousand fodder units, in Nonchernozem zone – up to 10 thousand fodder units.

Table. Efficiency of arable land use under irrigation in Kuban (Zubenko, 1980)^[1] Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Number of harvests per year	Crops	Product yield, t/ha	Fodder units harvest, t/ha	Conditional net income from 1 hectare, %
One	Corn, green mass	47.20	9.58	100
Two	Winter barley: grain straw	4.43 7.38	4.89 2.4
	Corn stubble, green mass	39.40	8.01
	For a total of two harvests	-	15.35	160
Three	Winter vetch-rye mixture, green mass	46.00	10.13
	Corn post-mowing, green mass	44.50	9.02
	Pea-sunflower mixture post-mowing, green mass	33.70	5.63
	For a total of three harvests	124.20	24.78	259

Due to the use of intercrops in the southern regions of Russia under irrigation conditions it is possible to get up to three harvests per year, increasing the productivity of arable land in 1.6-2.6 times and reducing the cost of production by 15-25%. The degree of saturation of crop rotations with intercrops can reach 30-80%.

Intermediate crops are an important source of fodder and a section of the green conveyor. Because of their use, it is possible to obtain green fodder in the period when the main fodder crops have not yet reached fodder ripeness (in spring) or are harvested (in autumn). They can serve as a high quality raw material for stockpiling fodder for the stabling period.

In the southern regions, they produce not only green fodder, but also grain, for example, in the stubble planting of buckwheat, or tubers in the stubble or post-mowing of potatoes. Seeded intermediate crops can be used for green fertilizer.

Intermediate crops are cultivated in pure form or in mixtures. For example, mixtures of lupine with oats and sunflowers, oats with peas, corn or Sudan grass with peas or lathyrus, vetch or lathyrus. Mixtures of winter wheat and winter rye with winter vetch or wintering peas produce greater yields than their pure crops. Mixtures of cover crops such as winter vetch and annual ryegrass sown under winter rye cover for green fodder are no less effective.

Peculiarities of the use of intermediate crops in the regions of Russia

Cultivation of intermediate crops without irrigation is possible in most regions and republics of Russia located south of the line St. Petersburg-Tver-Ivanovo-Kazan-Ufa and north of the line Belgorod-Voronezh-Penza-Ulyanovsk-Ufa.

Sainfoin, melilot, annual clover, Sudan grass are sown in southern areas, while in northern areas – various types of clover, melilot, winter vetch, seradella, perennial and annual lupine, and annual ryegrass. They are sown under the cover of annual grasses or cereals.

In many regions of Russia, winter rye, wheat, barley, vetch, rape, Barbarea, winter peas, winter oats may be used as winter intermediate crops. They are characterized by good use of agroclimatic resources in autumn-winter and early-spring periods, resistance to overwintering, fast growth rate and high yields of green mass in early spring.

In the southern regions of Russia in conditions of irrigation or sufficient moisture with a long growing season, plenty of heat and naturally high soil fertility have good prerequisites for the cultivation of stubble crops in the post-harvest period. Corn, sunflower, buckwheat, Sudan grass, millet, sorghum, foxtail millet and other late spring crops are used as the intermediate crops in the southern regions.

These regional characteristics determine the choice of intermediate crops that are drought-resistant and heat-demanding for the southern regions of the country and those that are not heat-demanding, fast-growing and frost-resistant for the Non-Black Earth zone.

The efficiency of intermediate crops in the Non-Black Soil Zone depends to a greater extent on the duration of the warm period, the amount of heat, and the amount of fertilizers applied.

In this zone, post-mowing crops for green fodder, such as vetch and pea-oat mixtures after the harvest of early potatoes, are suitable. The best for these conditions is considered to be perennial lupine or clover-grass. Mustard, winter and spring rape, etc., are common as the stubble crops.

Oats, peas, lupine, Pisum arvense, fodder cabbage, turnip, white mustard, winter and spring rape, phacelia, oil radish, winter Barbarea and other fast-growing and frost-resistant plants are used as stubble and post-mowing crops in the forest-meadow zone.

In the Central Black Earth zone of Russia, corn, Sudan grass, sorghum, peas, vetch, legume-grass mixtures, winter rape, suet and others with sowing not later than mid-July are suitable as post-mowing crops. Winter rape, colza, peas, and legume-oat mixtures are used for the stubbles.

In the steppe zone of the European part of Russia, intermediate crops are cultivated: in the winter crops – rape, Barbarea, wheat, rye and their mixtures; in the post-mowing crops – corn, Sudan grass, sorghum, sunflower; in the stubble crops – spring and winter cabbage family, pea-oat mixture, triticale, mixture of winter rye with winter vetch.

In the Middle and Southern Urals and Western Siberia, oil radish, spring rape and white mustard are grown as a stubble crop and sown no later than August 1. Good yields are obtained from the use of winter rye for green fodder, after which the main crop of the crop rotation is sown, for example, peas, barley, potatoes, and corn.

Predecessors of intermediate crops

Stubble and post-mowing crops are cultivated after harvesting winter and early spring cereals, early leguminous crops, annual grasses and early silage crops. Overseeding crops may also be used in these fields.

Winter intermediate crops are placed in the rotation fields after late spring crops – potatoes, corn, buckwheat, sorghum, Sudan grass, etc.

Cultivation features

Getting additional yields by sowing intermediate crops is possible with the use of fertilizers, applied on the basis of the removal of nutrients with the planned yield. Organic fertilizers, as a rule, are applied during the main tillage under the preceding main crop. For winter intermediate organic fertilizers are applied prior to their sowing taking into account the yield of the subsequent main crop. Mineral fertilizers are applied directly under the intermediate crops and in the form of top dressing.

According to the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, the yield of green mass of winter rape and crop mustard on sod-podzolic soils depends on the doses of mineral fertilizers, primarily nitrogen fertilizers. They have a positive effect on yield and the content of crude protein in green mass. Spring fertilization with nitrogen fertilizers of winter intermediate crops is effective. Phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied to plants of the legume family.

The choice of tillage methods is determined by the density, moisture and weediness of the fields. Under the conditions of the Moscow region, plowing of loamy soil to the depth of the arable layer with pre-sowing cultivation on different fertilizer backgrounds in three years led to an increase in crop yield by 10% on average compared with double stubble plowing (disking) for 10-12 cm. However, it is economically advantageous surface treatment, which allows you to quickly prepare the soil for sowing of post-mowing and stubble crops and coincides with the technology of autumn plowing. Rolling is used to accelerate sprouting in conditions of a short vegetation period.

The most effective for cultivation of intermediate crops combined units allow fertilizing, pre-sowing tillage and seeding in one pass of the technique. Seed rates are increased by 20-25% compared with conventional seeding. In conditions of drying of the upper soil layer the sowing depth is increased by 1-2 cm.

The All-Russian Research Institute of Fodder has developed a green fodder production technology for on-farm crop rotations, which allows to obtain up to four harvests of fodder during the year from a combination of winter intermediate and overseeding crops in the Non-Chernozem zone conditions. This was made possible through extensive use of mineral fertilizers and liquid manure, irrigation and other methods of intensification of agriculture.

Table. Productivity of arable land in forage crop rotations when using intermediate crops (according to the All-Russian Institute of Fodder)^[2]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Mowing	Harvesting time	Yield, t/ha
		green mass	dry matter
First	Middle of May (winter rye)	17.30	2.13
Second	July 20-31 (overseeded crops)	26.48	6.21
Third	1-10 August (regrown grass of overseeded crops)	16.49	2.94
Fourth	End of September (regrowth of grass overseeded crops)	4.95	0.90
	Total	65.22	12.18

Their importance in field and special crop rotations increases even more. With specialization and concentration of animal husbandry, many fodder crops are removed from field rotations and the area of grain crops is increased. Specialization of crop rotations with the maximum saturation of its leading crop leads to the reproduction of pathogens in the soil, an increase in weed infestation by specialized weeds, the spread of pests, and an increase in phytotoxicity of the soil.

Intermediate crops are even more important in specialized crop rotations, which allow to mitigate negative phenomena and make up for the dropped out links of fruit and vegetable rotation. For example, legumes and crucifers as green manure in crop rotations saturated with grain crops up to 80% and more reduce the lesion of barley and wheat by cercosporrelosis and other root rots.

According to the data of the Moscow Agricultural Academy, the infestation of plants in permanent barley crops with root rots can be reduced by 1.5 times through the use of stubble sideration, which due to the green mass plowing promotes the development of saprophytic soil microflora, some groups of which are antagonists of root rot pathogens.

Table. Root rot lesion of barley, % (according to Loshakov, 1980)^[3]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Section of the crop rotation	Without fertilizer	NPK	Manure	NPK+stubble siderate
1. Winter rye-potato-barley	33.8	29.7	28.1	16.6
2. Winter rye-barley-barley	47.9	42.9	48.5	27.1
3. Barley-barley-barley	74.1	56.8	63.1	40.6

In Kuban, when the area of rice crops in crop rotations is increased to 70-75% and more, winter intermediate crops of wintering peas or other sideral crops allow to increase rice yield by 28% when permanent sowing.

Rice rotations are recommended with the following alternation: 1 – leguminous crops with alfalfa in summer, 2 – alfalfa, 3-5 – rice, 6 – rice + winter intermediate siderats, 7-8 – rice. Various forms of siderats as intermediate crops in cotton, tobacco, vegetable and other special crop rotations show high efficiency.

Influence of intermediate crops on soil fertility

Intermediate crops have an all-round effect on soil fertility, soil water regime, yields of subsequent crops, and crop rotation productivity.

In the conditions of the central part of the Non-Black Soil Zone of Russia on sod-podzolic soil, plowing the green mass of the stubble white mustard as a green fertilizer, increased the potato yield by 30-50% compared with the control, while simultaneously improving product quality – increasing starch content and reducing scab lesions.

Influence on water, thermal and air regime of soils

Under conditions of sufficient moisture in the Non-Chernozem zone intermediate crops of winter rape and white mustard with green mass yield of 25-30 t/ha have no negative effect on the water balance, which is explained by their replenishment by autumn-winter precipitation and melt water.

In southern areas, intermediate crops protect the soil from overheating, reduce the speed of surface wind and create a favorable water regime. According to Gavrilov A.M. data, in Volga region conditions corn stubble crops decrease soil temperature from 45-48°C to 24-25°C without irrigation and to 18-20°C with irrigation. Wind speed in corn and Sudan grass stubble crops decreases from 3-5 to 0,1-0,2 m/s that contributes to preservation of relative air humidity in crops at 95-98%, in comparison with 34-36% in open plots.

Influence on biological activity of soil

According to the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, the biological activity of sod-podzolic soil under stubble crops is 1.5-2 times higher than on the autumn-plowing control plot.

Influence on the structure of the soil

Intermediate crops increase the number of water-retaining aggregates. For example, in the chernozem soils of the Volga region, the sowing of melilot led to an increase in the number of water-retaining aggregates in the 10-cm top layer by 12-13% on average.

Under the conditions of Moscow Region, winter intermediate and post-mowing fodder crops increased the number of water-retaining aggregates in the sod-podzolic soil by 7-10%.

In conditions of irrigated agriculture they weaken soil salinity.

Influence on erosion of the soil

Intermediate crops are an important measure in controlling wind and water erosion. Stubble and winter intermediate crops allow to protect fields from erosion in the fall and spring periods.

Influence on the balance of organic matter in the soil

Intermediate crops are a source of organic matter for sod-podzolic and low fertility soils. Due to them the soil receives up to 4-5 t/ha of plant and root residues, which has a complex positive impact on soil fertility.

In intensive farming it is more economically feasible to use stubble green manure crops instead of independent, that is, the application of green fertilizer at the expense of intermediate green manure crops, rather than separately cultivated for this purpose. White mustard, winter rape, oil radish are effective as stubby green manure for sod-podzolic soils in the Non-Black Soil Zone; for sandy and sandy loam soils – annual lupine (stubby) and underplanting of perennial lupine, bird’s-foot, sainfoins.

Plowing green mass increases the biological activity of the soil, increases the total number and diversity of soil microorganisms. The number of actinomycetes and other groups of active soil microflora increases. Thanks to green fertilizers, available forms of nitrogen for plants are accumulated in the soil.For example, when 16.7 tons of green mass of white mustard per 1 ha were plowed into the sod-podzolic soils of the Nonchernozem zone, the nitrate content in the arable layer amounted to 46 mg per 1 kg of dry soil against 18 mg against the control (no fertilizer). The value of crop green manure as a fertilizer is not inferior and sometimes surpasses the usual doses of organic fertilizers. On light soils plowing green mass of stubble lupine led to an increase in potato yield by 4-7 t/ha. Yield increase of potatoes in combination of manure and crop siderats reaches 10 t/ha.

Influence on the weediness of fields

Thanks to additional tillage in the intermediate crops in the crop rotation, weeds are eliminated. Weed emergence under the cover of fast-growing and thickened crops is suppressed and eliminated before the seeds mature when the intermediate crop is harvested for green fodder or plowed for green fertilizer. In some cases, root excretions and products of green mass decomposition have a depressing effect on the seeds of individual weeds.

For example, after stubble planting of corn in Kuban, the weed infestation of sugar beet decreased by 50% compared with the control (planting of sugar beet on fallow land).

According to the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev, the weed infestation of subsequent crops after stubble crops is reduced by 35-50% with a simultaneous reduction in the number of vegetative mass of the surviving weeds. Saturation of the cereal-grass-row rotation with intermediate crops up to 50% leads to a 2-3 times reduction of weed infestation of winter wheat crops.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Fundamentals of Agronomy: Tutorial/Y.V. Evtefeev, G.M. Kazantsev. – M.: FORUM, 2013. – 368 p.: ill.

Cereals in the crop rotation

19.11.2021

Cereals in the crop rotation – a group of crops in the crop rotation, relating to cereals and occupying in the structure of cultivated areas, as a rule, half or most of the arable land.

Main article: Cereal crops

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Crop rotation

Repeated sowings of cereal crops

Cereal crops in most cases react to repeated sowing with a sharp decrease in yields. Winter wheat is especially sensitive, the others are less sensitive.

In the chernozem steppe of the Middle Volga region, repeated and permanent sowing of spring wheat reduces yields due to high weed infestation and root rot. Thus, at repeated sowing due to root rot the grain yield of spring wheat decreased by 31.1%.

Table. Influence of preceding crops, repeated and permanent crops on weediness and yield of spring wheat (Korchagin, Neyasov, 1996)^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Spring wheat predecessor	Number of weeds per 1 m²		Yield of spring wheat, t/ha
	total	including perennials
Winter rye on bare fallow	12	1	1.95
Corn	31	3	1.89
Spring wheat repeatedly	45	4	1.68
Spring wheat is permanent	297	4	1.17

However, the effect of repeated sowing on grain yield depends strongly on climatic conditions and preceding crops. In the Non-Black Soil zone, winter wheat re-cropped after perennial grasses reduces grain yield, while in the Black Earth steppe zone of the North Caucasus and Southeast the effect of repeated crops after bare fallow is much less.

The share of sown areas occupied by winter wheat in the forest-steppe zone, South-East, Kuban of Russia can reach 30-40% of arable land, so it can be grown in repeated crops after bare fallow. In these regions, it also gives high yields after alfalfa 2-3 years of use, as well as after leguminous crops and corn for silage.

A similar effect is shown for spring wheat: under conditions of sufficient moisture in the European part of Russia, repeated crops sharply reduce yields, while in the arid steppes of Altai, Western Siberia and other eastern regions after bare fallow to a much lesser extent affect yields.

In crop rotations in which spring wheat accounts for large areas, it is sown in succession for two years.

Repeated sowing of oats and barley in all regions of Russia leads to a decrease in yields by 15-20% and to severe weed infestation. In areas where grass sowing is applied, these crops are cultivated with underplanting of perennial grasses.

Rice under special agrotechnics – a complex system of plant protection, irrigation by checks and high doses of fertilizers, withstands the 2-3-year repeated sowing without a marked decrease in productivity, for example, in the crop rotations of rice-growing enterprises of Kuban. In case of permanent rice crops, salinization and swamping of soils, accumulation of hydrogen sulfide and ferrous oxide forms, weed infestation of crops by specialized weed plants: rice weed, bulrush (Bolboschoenus), arrowroot (Sagittaria), sedge (Carex) and others negatively affects the yield. Therefore, repeated sowing of rice alternates with the best preceding crops for it – alfalfa, leguminous plants, corn, winter wheat with intercrops.

Predecessors of cereal crops

The place of cereals in the crop rotation is determined by their food value, so they try to place on the best predecessors – bare and seeded fallows, after perennial grasses or leguminous crops.

Winter cereals

The best predecessor of winter cereal crops is bare fallow, but it is not economically profitable everywhere. The greatest effect of bare fallow is observed in arid zones and areas with insufficient moisture. In areas with sufficient moisture it is more expedient to sow winter crops after seeded fallows, which give the same results as bare fallows.

In the Non-Black Earth zone of the European part of Russia, winter rye and winter wheat are placed after perennial grasses, such as clover-timothy mixture of 2-3 years of use, after clover, vetch-oat or sideral fallow, after peas, early potatoes (in the central regions of the zone) or corn for green fodder. In the northeast of the zone can be placed after bare fallow.

In this zone grain and fodder yields from 1 ha of arable land in crop rotations with seeded fallows are higher than with bare fallows. It should be taken into account that the seeded fallows are effective on condition of high level of agrotechnics, sufficient amount of organic and mineral fertilizers, timely harvesting of fallow crops and preparation of the field for sowing winter crops. When the fields are heavily infested with vicious weeds, it is advisable to include bare fallow in the crop rotation. Clean couples are justified in the farms of the Volga-Vyatka economic region: the cultivation of winter crops, with their large share in the structure of sowing areas, without bare fallow is difficult.

Good preceding crops for winter crops in many areas of the Non-Chernozem zone are perennial and annual grasses, leguminous crops, early silage crops, barley for early harvesting.

In the Central Black Earth zone, good winter cereal predecessors include: in the arid part of the zone – bare fallow; with insufficient moisture – bare and seeded fallow; in areas with sufficient moisture – seeded fallow, perennial and annual grasses, corn for green fodder and silage, leguminous crops.

In the North Caucasus and its subzones, the effectiveness of bare, seeded fallows, and other predecessors is different. For example, in areas with sufficient moisture in Krasnodar Krai, winter wheat can be placed after legumes, perennial grasses, corn for green fodder or grain, castor oil plant, sunflower, winter wheat, barley and seeded fallow. A good predecessor in these areas is alfalfa. After which the grain yield of winter wheat was by 0.5-0.6 t/ha higher than that of corn, sunflower and cereal grains cultivated on the type of half-fallow. When sown on sainfoin seeded fallow, it gave the same high yields as on black fallow. In addition, in 6 years of sainfoin seeded fallow, an average of 3.71 tons of high quality hay per hectare was obtained. Moisture content in the seeded sainfoin fallow was almost the same as in the black fallow.

On the background of high doses of fertilizers and timely tillage in the subzones of the North Caucasus, high yields of winter and after row crops are obtained. In Kuban, maize harvested early for green fodder or early silage is a good predecessor of winter wheat.

In arid and semi-arid areas of Stavropol Krai and Rostov Oblast, winter wheat and winter rye give very low grain yields when sown after all non-fallow predecessors, and in dry years high yields are possible only when sown after properly treated bare fallow. According to the data of the Stavropol Research Institute of Agriculture in the arid regions of the Stavropol Territory winter wheat yields in 15 years on average 2.09 t/ha of bare fallow, and only 1.26 t/ha on non-fallow preceding crops. At the same time, bare fallow showed an aftereffect on subsequent crops. In another experiment for the same zone the yield of winter wheat after bare fallow was 3.04 t/ha, while after corn – 1.99 t/ha.

Yield of winter wheat variety Bezostaya 1 in the experiments of Zernograd breeding station of Rostov region after black fallow reached 4.47 t/ha, while after corn for silage – 1.47 t/ha. These experiments confirm that in arid and semi-arid conditions it is possible to obtain high and sustainable yields of winter wheat if bare fallow is included in crop rotation.

The main preceding crops in arid areas of the Southeast are bare fallow and strip fallow. According to Krasnokutskaya and Kamyshinskaya breeding stations, the grain yield of winter rye after corn for silage decreases by 33-45% compared with bare fallow. In conditions of moisture deficit, seeded fallows and even more so, non fallow preceding crops cannot provide normal sprouting of winter crops.

Based on many years of observations of research institutions and advanced farms in the most arid regions of Russia, which include Volgograd, Saratov and other regions, it is recommended to place winter cereals only after bare or strip fallows, and in dry years, when by the time of sowing winter water reserves in fallow field will be insufficient for sprouts, it is advisable to use these fallows for sowing of spring wheat. In less arid right-bank districts of the Southeast, it is also recommended to sow winter cereals after bare and strip fallows. However, in more favorable weather conditions, winter cereals, mainly rye, can be sown after seeded fallows, corn for green fodder or early silage and early leguminous crops. For example, in the right bank of the Saratov region, winter wheat along with black fallow is sown in favorable years after harvesting early varieties of peas, pea, Hungarian sainfoin and early varieties of maize for green fodder or early silage.

In the forest-steppe regions of the Volga region, winter crops, mainly winter rye, are sown after seeded fallow, legume crops, corn for early silage or green fodder. To maintain optimum sowing conditions for winter crops, it is important to timely harvest the fallow crop and prepare the soil well.

Unlike winter wheat, winter barley is less winter-hardy, so it is widespread in the south of the North Caucasus. Fields occupied by the most valuable preceding crops are allocated for winter wheat, and winter barley is placed after non-fallow crops. High barley yields can also be obtained by planting barley after legumes, sunflowers, castor beans and corn for silage or grain.

In addition to the size of the winter wheat grain yield, the predecessors have an impact on its quality. Grain obtained in the 2nd year of repeated sowing of winter wheat after row crops had the lowest weight of 1000 grains with low protein content. On the contrary, the grain obtained when winter wheat was grown after bare and seeded fallow or after perennial grasses and castor bean had the highest weight of 1000 grains, high bulk density of grain and protein content.

Spring cereals

In the forest-steppe and eastern steppe regions of Russia, for example, in the Volga region, Southern Urals, Western Siberia, Altai and adjacent areas, spring wheat, occupying 50% or more of arable land with a limited number of cultivated crops, can replace bare fallow, including for reseeding, as well as barley, corn for green fodder, annual grasses.

Spring wheat is the most demanding to soil fertility and predecessors. It is widespread in Siberia, the Trans-Urals, southeastern Russia and Kazakhstan. In other parts of the country it occupies smaller areas.

The main predecessors of spring wheat in all zones of Russia are row crops: sugar beets, potatoes, corn, etc., as well as leguminous crops that enrich the soil with nitrogen – lathyrus, lentils, peas, etc.

The value of row crops as predecessors is due to the fact that during the growing season, these fields are repeatedly cultivated, reducing weeds, and a large amount of fertilizer is applied.

Perennial grasses are a good predecessor for spring wheat, as well as for other spring cereals. They increase the yield and grain quality of spring wheat, especially durum.

Often, winter wheat and rye are used as precursors of spring wheat, especially if the latter were placed after bare, seeded fallow or perennial grasses.

According to the Nizhny Novgorod Agricultural Academy, oats turned out to be the best predecessor of all cereals for spring wheat on light gray medium-cultivated soils. Sown after oats, it was 2 times less affected by root rot than after barley.

In the steppe arid regions of the Trans-Urals and Siberia, the best precursor of spring wheat is bare fallow, after which the crop can be grown repeatedly for two, sometimes three years. Leguminous crops, corn for silage, potatoes, and winter rye after bare fallow can be the predecessors for spring wheat in the Trans-Urals and Pre-Urals.

In the arid areas of the South-East (Volgograd, Orenburg, Saratov regions), winter crops cultivated after bare or seeded fallow, corn, sorghum, and broadly sown millet may be the predecessors of spring wheat; in the Central Black Earth zone – sugar beet, potato, corn, leguminous plants and winter crops.

Spring forage crops (oats and barley) are responsive to the same predecessors as spring wheat, except for bare and seeded fallows, as well as perennial grasses, which are used for more demanding crops.

The most common good predecessors of barley and oats are row crops such as corn, potatoes, castor beans, sunflowers, etc., and sugar beets in the beet-growing areas.

Oats and barley in all zones of Russia show high yields after leguminous crops: soybeans, peas, beans, lupine, as well as cereals – winter and spring wheat and winter rye. Their infestation by fungal diseases and weed infestation of fields after rye and wheat is less than in repeated crops.

Groats cereal crops

Groats cereal crops (millet, buckwheat) are preceded by winter cereals following perennial grasses, as well as row crops such as potatoes, corn, sugar beets, fodder crops, etc.

Millet is very demanding with respect to soil fertility and cleanliness of the fields.The highest yield is noted when it is placed on fertile virgin lands and fallow lands, as well as after perennial grasses. Good predecessors are leguminous crops and well-tilled row crops such as sugar beets and potatoes. It is possible to place millet after winter crops in a bare or seeded fallow.

Buckwheat is less sensitive to weeds than millet, but reacts sharply negative to repeated sowing. Potatoes, corn, sugar beets and other row crops as well as leguminous crops are good predecessors. With high farming techniques, it can be grown on winter and spring cereals.

According to the All-Russian Research Institute of Legumes and Cereals, for the Central Black Earth zone the best preceding crops for buckwheat are row crops – corn, potatoes, sugar beets, as well as winter crops, under which fertilizers were applied.

High and stable rice yields are possible with repeated sowing alternating with perennial grasses or leguminous crops. Experiments conducted in Krasnodar Territory show that the best predecessor of rice is alfalfa, while 3-year repeated sowing leads to a decrease in soil fertility, field clogging and reduced yields. In scientifically grounded crop rotation the rice yield is 5.54 tons of grain and more per 1 hectare. Good precursors of rice are leguminous crops and seeded fallow.

Under irrigated conditions of the Lower Volga region (Astrakhan oblast) rice yield at repeated sowing was 3.1 t/ha, by alfalfa layer – 4.7 t/ha.

Cereal crops as predecessors

Cereal crops

The value of cereal crops as predecessors is determined by the level of agricultural technique and their predecessor, i.e. pre-predecessor. Winter and spring wheat and winter rye cultivated after bare fallow or perennial grasses are good predecessors for many crops due to the after action of steam and perennial grasses.

Sugar beets, corn, potatoes, sunflowers and other row crops especially effectively use this aftereffect. Therefore, in many areas of cultivation of these crops are crop rotation sections: bare fallow – winter cereals – row crops or perennial grasses – winter cereals – row crops.

Winter cereals in the crop rotation are good precursors for fiber flax, millet, spring cereals, leguminous crops, and rice. However, due to specific pests and diseases, the use of cereals as predecessors is undesirable.

Winter cereal crops, due to early harvesting dates, allow the use of fields for sowing intercrops. For example, under irrigation conditions in the southern regions of Russia, after harvesting winter barley or winter wheat, corn is sown in the stubble, which gives up to 40-50 t/ha of green mass before the onset of cold weather.

In areas of sufficient moisture in the North Caucasus with a long fallow period, repeated sowing of winter wheat is interrupted by sowing of intermediate crops, the use of which for fodder or green fertilizer allows for good yields from repeated sowing of winter wheat.

The value of spring cereals as precursors is relatively lower than that of winter cereals, although it also depends on the level of agricultural technique and the predecessor. Spring wheat can be a satisfactory predecessor for reseeding and for other crops, provided it comes after clean fallow or perennial grasses. It is of lesser value if it is cultivated after row crop predecessors. Spring wheat is considered to be an unacceptable predecessor after repeated crops or its sowing on other cereal crops.

Oats, due to the fact that they are almost not affected by root rot and other specific diseases of cereals, can be considered a good predecessor for most cereals, legumes and row crops.

Barley, cultivated after row crops, leguminous crops, is considered a satisfactory predecessor for winter rye due to the early release of the fields with, as a rule, a sufficiently high fertility. It can be a precursor to many row crops. Barley is not suitable as a predecessor for winter and spring wheat because of the susceptibility to the same root rot diseases.

Groats cereal crops

Millet, coming after perennial grasses or well fertilized row crops, is considered a good predecessor among groats cereal crops. Intercropping repeated crops of spring wheat with millet increases its yield by 15-40%.

Experiments of the Krasnodar Research Institute of Agriculture showed that millet is a good cover crop for alfalfa or sainfoin.

Buckwheat is also considered a good preceding crop for spring cereals because of its belonging to another family, its ability to reduce the weediness of fields and to assimilate hardly soluble phosphates of soil. It is followed by leguminous crops, corn, potatoes and other row crops. Because of the late harvesting period in the Non-Black Soil Zone, it cannot be used as a predecessor for winter cereals.

In the humidified regions of the Northern Caucasus and in the south of Russia, buckwheat should be cultivated after harvesting winter wheat or barley and harvested before the fall cold. In this case, it interrupts the cultivation of winter and subsequent spring grain crops, which has an important agronomic value.

The quality of cereal crops as predecessors, change depending on fertilizers, herbicides and other means of agricultural intensification. According to S.A. Vorobyov, barley yields on sod-podzolic soils of Moscow Region vary greatly depending on the predecessors on unfertilized soil (background). Application of fertilizers significantly levels the yield. According to the Krasnodar Research Institute of Agriculture, high efficiency of legume crops as predecessors of winter wheat is noted only on unfertilized background. Fertilizer application eliminates the difference in winter wheat yields after predecessors and is 63-80% higher than in permanent crops.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Technical crops of the crop rotation

19.11.2021

Technical (non-row) crops is a group of crops in a crop rotation that includes flax, hemp, cotton, rape, and others.They are characterized by high removal of nutrients from the soil while being highly demanding to fertility. For example, high yields of hemp are possible on highly fertile soils, the so-called “hemp land” with the application of high doses of manure or other organic fertilizers.

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Crop rotation

Predecessors of technical crops

Cottonwood

Cotton plants are less susceptible to the negative effects of repeated sowing, but are responsive to predecessors.

The best preceding crop for cotton is alfalfa, good ones are leguminous, corn and sorghum. The important role in repeated sowing of cotton is played by stubble crops of fodder and green manure crops.

In the countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, where cotton sowing is well developed, alfalfa produces 60-80 tons of green mass or 15-20 tons of high-quality hay from 1 hectare if it is cultivated and irrigated. It enriches the soil with organic matter at the expense of root and crop residues. In irrigated agriculture it contributes to soil desalinization and reduction of wilt.

Cotton is cultivated in alfalfa-cotton crop rotations after perennial grasses and after sorghum, corn and leguminous crops. The best raw cotton yields are obtained after perennial grasses or one year after them.

Flax

Flax is a demanding crop for fertility and clean fields from weeds. It does not tolerate repeated sowing. Flax is not subjected to manure as it worsens the quality of fiber.

According to the All-Russian Flax Research Institute, one of the best predecessors of flax is clover of the first and second year of use and a mixture of clover with timothy (or other cereal grasses) of the second year of use. Perennial grasses enrich the soil with organic matter and nitrogen, significantly improving fertility and phytosanitary state of the soil, resulting in a reduction of infestation by fusarium and other diseases. The condition for sowing flax after perennial grasses or one year after them is to carry out extermination measures against pests, diseases and weeds.

Flax can also be preceded by seeded fallows, potatoes, and grain legumes following perennial grasses.

According to the Pskov Regional Agricultural Experimental Station, the infestation of flax crops after perennial grasses is twice lower than after winter rye. Flax can return to its former place in 5-6 years.If there is insufficient area of perennial grasses, flax can be placed after row crops on well fertilized soils such as potatoes and corn, as well as after winter crops and barley following perennial grasses.

Hemp

Hemp is demanding to soil fertility, but allows repeated sowing.

Winter wheat and rye, sugar beets, corn, potatoes, spring wheat, legumes, vegetables, perennial grasses, and forage lupine can be the predecessors.

Tobacco

Scientifically grounded inclusion of tobacco in crop rotation allows to increase tobacco yield by 1,5-2 times in comparison with the permanent and repeated crops.

According to the All-Russian Research Institute of Tobacco, tobacco is recommended to be placed on light sandy loamy, podzolized foothill soils with low humus content after perennial grasses; on rich fertile soils – one year after perennial grasses, in some cases the third year after perennial grasses.

Good predecessors include winter and spring cereals, corn and annual cereal grasses.

Tobacco is not placed after potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and other nightshades.

Rapeseed

The best preceding crops for rape are legumes, potatoes, corn for silage or green fodder, and winter cereals following good predecessors. Repeated sowing and predecessors from the cruciferous family lead to a sharp decrease in rapeseed yields because of specific diseases and pests. The period of returning to the former place of cultivation is from 3 to 5 years.

Technical crops as predecessors

After flax, potatoes, spring cereals, buckwheat can be cultivated in crop rotations; in areas with later sowing dates of winter cereals – winter wheat and winter rye.

Well-fertilized fields under flax, rape, and hemp retain effects for several years, so they are suitable for cultivation of winter and spring cereals, with yields comparable to those after the seeded fallow or leguminous crops.

Rape has a positive effect on soil fertility and structure, and is therefore sometimes used as a green manure on farms.

Repeat sowings

Technical crops have different attitudes to repeated crops, primarily because of biological reasons for crop rotation. High doses of manure and mineral fertilizers make it possible to re-cultivate hemp without reducing yields. However, long-term permanent hemp crops reduce yields because of the spread of specific pests and diseases: hemp flea, stem moth, fusarium. Therefore, in crop rotations specializing in hemp production, repeated crops are interrupted for 1-2 years by corn, potatoes, perennial grasses or leguminous crops.

Fiber flax does not tolerate repeated crops or short return periods to the same field. It is associated primarily with a strong lesion of fusarium, flax fatigue of the soil and the inhibitory effect of some groups of soil microorganisms. In the crop rotations of Novgorod, Smolensk and other regions, the period of return to the same field is 6-8 years.

Sources

Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. – Moscow: Publishing House “Kolos”, 2000. – 551 с.

Fundamentals of agricultural production technology. Farming and crop production. Edited by V.S. Niklyaev. – Moscow: Bylina, 2000. – 555 с.

Category Archives: Arable farming

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The importance of tillage

Developments in the science of tillage

Scientific basis of tillage

Agrophysical justification

Density

Table. Equilibrium and optimum soil density for field crops (according to A.I. Puponin, 1986), g/cm3[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

The structure of the arable layer

Table. Yields of field crops depending on the structure of 0-40 cm layer of sod-podzolic soil, t/ha[2]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Other indicators

Soil protection tillage

Agrochemical basics

Biological bases

Technological operations of tillage

Cutting and separating

Turning

Loosening

Crumbling

Mixing

Compaction

Surface leveling

Cutting weeds

Creating micro-relief

Soil physical and mechanical properties and their influence on tillage quality

Hardness

Cohesiveness

Plasticity

Stickiness

Physical ripeness

Table. Intervals of soil moisture for quality tillage (by Pronin), %[3]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Sliding friction

Resistance to deformation

Abrasiveness of soil

Specific soil resistance

Interaction of wedge with soil

Flat wedge

Curvilinear wedge

Two-sided wedge

Three-sided wedge

Tillage methods

Tillage system

Minimum tillage

Deepening and cultivation of the arable layer of different soil types

Tilling of soils prone to water erosion

Tillage of soils prone to wind erosion

Tillage of meliorated land

Evaluation of the quality of fieldwork

Current problems of tillage

Problems of energy conservation and soil compaction

Environmental problems

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Soil protection properties of crops

Building soil-protective crop rotations

Table. Changes in band width depending on slope steepness (according to Zaslavsky and Kashtanov, 1986)

Table. Ratio of areas in the crop rotation (%) of crops with different soil-protecting ability, depending on the steepness of the slope

Examples of soil-protective crop rotations

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Designing a system of crop rotations

Preparatory period of design

Designing

Implementation of a system of crop rotations

Maintenance of crop rotations

Plan for transition to crop rotation

Table. Crop rotation implementation plan

Table. Change in the years of transition of the area under crops and used arable land, ha

Evaluating the effectiveness of crop rotations

Evaluating the effectiveness of individual crops

Evaluating the effectiveness of crop rotations

Efficiency assessment by environmental, energy and soil protection indicators

Field history book and other documentation

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Examples of crop rotations in small (private) farms

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Vegetable crop rotations

Table. Predecessors of vegetable and melon crops[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Equilibrium and optimum soil density for field crops (according to A.I. Puponin, 1986), g/cm³^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Yields of field crops depending on the structure of 0-40 cm layer of sod-podzolic soil, t/ha^[2]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Intervals of soil moisture for quality tillage (by Pronin), %^[3]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Predecessors of vegetable and melon crops^[1]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Efficiency of arable land use under irrigation in Kuban (Zubenko, 1980)^[1] Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Productivity of arable land in forage crop rotations when using intermediate crops (according to the All-Russian Institute of Fodder)^[2]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.

Table. Root rot lesion of barley, % (according to Loshakov, 1980)^[3]Farming. Textbook for universities / G.I. Bazdyrev, V.G. Loshakov, A.I. Puponin et al. - M.: Publishing house "Kolos", 2000. - 551 p.