Effect of Crop Rotation and Cereal Monoculture on the Yield and Quality of Winter Wheat Grain and on Crop Infestation with Weeds and Soil Properties

Andrzej Woźniak

doi:10.1007/s42106-019-00044-w

Abstract

An exact experiment, established in a system of randomized blocks, was aimed at determining the effect of crop rotation and 29-year cereal monoculture on the yield and quality of winter wheat grain as well as on straw yield, crop infestation with weeds, contents of organic C and total N in the soil, and the number of earthworms in the soil. Winter wheat was sown in two systems of crop succession: (1) in crop rotation (CR), and (2) in a cereal monoculture (CM). Winter wheat cultivation in the CM system resulted in a decrease of grain yield by 32%, compared to the CR system. Its grain yield reduction in the CM system was due to a lower number of spikes m−2, lower 1000 grain weight, shorter spikes, and lower grain weight per spike, than in the CR system. Wheat grain from the CM system was characterized by a lower content of wet gluten, lesser grain uniformity and grain volume weight, and contained more total ash than the grain from the CR system. The number and air-dry weight of weeds were higher in the CM than in the CR system by 57.1% and 75%, respectively. Differences were also demonstrated in the species composition of weeds. The soil samples collected from the CM plot contained less organic C and total N than the samples derived from the CR system. Soil samples from the CM system had also a lower number of earthworms compared to the CR soil samples.

Highlights

The yield and quality of wheat grain are determined by coeffects of habitat, agrotechnical measures as well as plant species and cultivar (Rachon et al 2015; Schlegel et al 2018; Woźniak and Soroka 2018)
This study aimed to evaluate the yield and quality of winter wheat grain, winter wheat crop infestation with weeds, and soil properties in the multi-year cereal monoculture and crop rotation systems
Grain and straw yield of winter wheat cultivated in the cereal monoculture (CM) system was lower by 32% than of winter wheat grown in the crop rotation (CR) system (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The yield and quality of wheat grain are determined by coeffects of habitat, agrotechnical measures as well as plant species and cultivar (Rachon et al 2015; Schlegel et al 2018; Woźniak and Soroka 2018). Contemporary agricultural systems usually tend to minimize expenditures incurred on tillage and make use of specialist crop rotations including 2–3 plant species requiring the same or similar cultivation technology (Soane et al 2012; Roche et al 2017). Sometimes, such solutions fail, which leads to crop productivity decrease (Haliniarz et al 2018). Wheat is a cereal species with high habitat and agrotechnical demands (Ranjbar et al 2015) It produces higher yields after leguminous, fodder, and roots plants, whereas significantly lower ones when grown after cereals (Debaeke et al 1996). It contributes to a lower milling and baking value of the grain (Woźniak and Makarski 2013; Rachon et al 2015)

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Discussion

Conclusion