Wheat crop rotation systems

A sound crop rotational system is of basic importance to the organic farmer. It reduces the risk of diseases and pests associated with monoculture, gives better control of weeds, spreads the labour requirements more evenly over the year, reduces the financial risk if one crop yields or sells badly and provides more interest for the farmer. For instance, take-all is a disease that cannot even be controlled chemically. Winter crops are more susceptible to take-all than spring sown crops and wheat is more susceptible than barley, so the safest position for winter wheat is immediately after a break crop. 

One of the most important methods of reducing Fusarium infection risk by minimizing inoculum levels is to establish diversified crop rotations which avoid growing maize and cereals before cereals. Since maize as a pre-crop for cereals (especially wheat) is rarely used in organic systems, this risk is applied mainly to conventional farming systems where this practice has increased over the last 20 years. 

Rizvi SJH, Mishra GP, Rizvi V (1989) AUelopathic effects of nicotine on maize I. Its possible importance in crop rotation. Plant Soil 116 289-291 Roshchina VV (2001) Molecular-cellular mechanisms in pollen allelopathy. Allelopathy J 8 11-28 Roth CM, Shroyer JP, Paulsen GM (2000) Allelopathy of sorghum on wheat under several tillage systems. Agron J 92 855-860... 

Atrazine remains the standard herbicide for making the transition from wheat to sorghum or corn in Great Plains cropping systems. Even where more intensified crop rotations have been developed, they are built around winter wheat followed by ecofallow sorghum or com. The success of atrazine is due to its persistence as a soil-applied herbicide, to the broad spectrum of weeds controlled, to its low cost per acre, and to its safety on sorghum and com. In the Great Plains, repeated burndown of weeds in fallow with nonresidual herbicides is not a viable alternative to the role that atrazine plays. 

Koocheki, A., Nassir, M., Zare, A. Alimoradi, L. (2002) Weed Dynamics of Conventional and Ecological Cropping Systems in Different Rotations with Wheat. Proceedings of the 14th IFOAM Organic World Congress, Victoria BC, Canada, p. 59. 

Another approach is the utilization of allelopathic rotational crops or companion plants in annual or perennial cropping systems (19). Living rye (Secale cereale L.) and its residues have been shown to provide nearly complete suppression of a variety of agroecosystem weeds (33). Similarly, residues of sorghums, barley, wheat and oats can provide exceptional suppression of certain weed species Q ). Although some progress has been made on identifying the allelochmicals from these plants, much remains to be accomplished. 

Yakle GA, Cruse RM (1984) Effects of fresh and decomposing com plant residue extracts on com seedling development. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48 1143-1146 Young CC, Zhu Thoume LR, Waller GR (1989) Phytotoxic potential of soils and wheat straw in rice rotation cropping systems of subtropical Taiwan. Plant Soil 120 95-101 Yu JQ (2001) Autotoxic potential of cucurbit crops phenomenon, chemicals, mechanisms and means to overcome. J Crop Prod 4 335-348... 

Triazine herbicides are particularly well suited for conservation tillage because they provide foliar and residual control of a broad spectrum of weeds. Atrazine, simazine, and metribuzin are used in com, atrazine and propazine in sorghum, metribuzin in soybean, and simazine reduces tillage required for weed control in many perennial and tree crops. Atrazine is also used extensively in chemical fallow cropping systems in rotations involving corn, sorghum, and wheat. Cyanazine was also used extensively in corn and cotton until 2002. 

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