Crop Rotation in Agriculture

Welcome to my blog friends... let us talk about crop rotation below.

Source

Crop rotation is an agricultural practice that has in it the mixture of two or more crops in a particular farmland. This is a predominant practice in my country, Nigeria, especially in the southeastern states. You can hardly see a farm with a monopoly of crop in it.

One good thing about it is that it avails of the different crop varieties needed for home use. It is practice that is a win-win for us given its multifaceted benefits.

It helps improve soil fertility by creating a good soil-nutrient balance. Different crops have different growth patterns and nutrient use, this help in pfoper usage of soil-nutrient and distribution for growth.

It helps protect our crops from climate hazards like erosion and flooding. This wash our crops or soil nutrients. Some of these crops serve as cover to the soil, which protect them from direct climate effects.

It also helps in disrupting pests and disease cycles. What affects a crop may not affect the order, and one crop may serve as repellant to other crop pests. Crop rotation helps in the control of pests and disease attacks.

We have the simple crop rotation where we have a mix of two crops in the farm. This mix of crops is compatible enough to make our farm needs. During the start of the farming period, we see combinations like maize and yam crop rotation patterns. These two crops can be mixed and as well do very well.

We have a complex pattern that involves more than just two crops on the farm. We have up to five crops in the mix. Sometimes, in the mix of yam and maize crops, we may still introduce okro, pumpkins, and cassava.

When we plant different crops on a farm, we should know that all crops do not have the same nutrient intake. Some are light feeders, while others are heavy feeders. That is, some require more nutrients to grow while others require less.

A combination of these crops helps in the conversation of soils from climatic effects like leaching and unwanted flooding. This helps protect the soil and keep more of its nutrients from washing away.

Source

Flooding is one way our farms are destroyed, and crop rotation helps to put a little control to this. Cover crops are like protection to the field. They help repel or push water backwards from the farm.

Heavy rainfall that would have also pushed down nutrients beyond the reach of crops is avoided. The cover crops are like shields. They are the first point of contact before the soil.

Crop rotation also helps enhance water retention in the soil. The possibility of droughts and water stress are hardly the case.

New waves of pests and diseases due to climate change may be dislodged because of the disruptions caused by the crop rotation practice.

Thank you, my steem-agro friemds. I will invite my sisters @eveetim, @chant, and
@thaizmaita to join the contest.