CROP ROTATION PRESENTER: LAMEISHA BURKE

  Crop rotation is the practice of growing a different crop each year on a piece of land in a regular order, to avoid exhausting the soil. What is crop rotation?

  Balance soil fertility – it makes your soil more fertile as legumes such as beans and ground nuts fix nitrogen in the soil.  You use less chemical fertilizer, because the nitrogen is fixed naturally in the soil.  It helps to control weeds, diseases and pest by breaking their life cycles. This is so because weeds and pests are very choosy about the host Advantages of crop rotation

  crop plant, which they attack. When the crop is changed the cycle is broken. Hence, pesticide cost is reduced.  Reduce soil erosion  Allow additional soil improvements Advantages cont’d

  Soil Depth- Large rooted crops, such as tomatoes, potatoes and corn, can not be grown in shallow soil. This limits the ability to rotate crops as recommended.  Shading Disadvantages of crop rotation

 tomatoestomatoes.  Crops that use up a lot of nitrogen in the soil tend to be the leafy and fruiting crops, such as lettuce, cabbage, and tomatoes. In contrast, root vegetables and herbs are light feeders. Peas, beans, and other legumes add nitrogen to the soil but need lots of phosphorus. tomatoes How to rotate crops

  The general rule of thumb for balancing out soil nutrients is to avoid planting the same general category of crop (root, legume, and leafy/fruiting) successively in the same place. Divide your land in three equal sections andI follow nitrogen-fixing legumes such as peas or beans with nitrogen-loving leaf or fruiting crops such as lettuce or tomatoes. Then, follow the heavy feeding crops with light- feeding root crops. How to rotate crops

 Comparison between crop rotation and monoculture  Monoculture  One crop is planted for a number of years.  Wide spread out break of pest and diseases.  Increasing the levels of chemical inputs results in negative environmental impact.  Cop rotation  A mixture of crops is rotated each year.  Controls pest and diseases.  Nitrogen is fix naturally in the soil.

 Comparison between crop rotation and monoculture cont’d  Farming on the same field year after year with the same crop destroys the soil.  Crop rotation balance the soil.