Why do crops need to implement crop rotation and stubble switching?

Why Do Crop Rotation and Staggered Planting Need to Be Implemented

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Why Do Crops Need to Implement Rotation and Staggered Planting

Crop rotation can maintain, restore, and improve soil fertility. The nutrients consumed from the soil by plants during planting are different, and the nutrients consumed in the previous crop will be replenished by the next crop, or the consumption of such nutrients will be stopped. Each crop consumes different soil nutrients, and crop rotation can balance the utilization of soil nutrients and water.

Reasons for Crop Rotation

In agricultural planting, fallowing and rotation are relatively important because fallowing and rotation can increase total porosity and soil organic matter content, which is beneficial for land protection. Therefore, the logic for implementing crop rotation and staggered planting is probably similar.

Maintain, Restore, and Improve Soil Fertility

Grain crops require a large amount of nitrogen from the soil, while green manure and other leguminous crops can fix atmospheric nitrogen, and cruciferous crops can secrete organic acids. If these crops are rotated, it can maintain, restore, and improve soil fertility.

Balancing the Use of Soil Nutrients and Water

Different crops have different absorption capacities for soil nutrients and water. For example, rice, wheat, and other grain crops absorb more nitrogen and phosphorus but less calcium, while leguminous crops absorb more phosphorus and calcium.

This kind of crop rotation can balance the use of various nutrients and fully utilize the soil's yield potential. Deep-rooted rotation and shallow-rooted rotation can utilize nutrients and water from different soil layers.

Reducing Diseases, Insects, and Weeds

Crop rotation can change the host of pathogens, inhibit the growth of pathogens, and reduce damage. In particular, water-land rotation can change the ecological environment of weeds, inhibiting or eliminating weed growth.

Rational Use of Agricultural Resources

According to the physiological and ecological characteristics of crops, it is necessary to match the crops before and after rotation reasonably, with a close relationship between crops.

This is not only beneficial for the full use of land and natural resources such as light, heat, and water but also有利于 the rational and balanced use of social resources such as agricultural tools, fertilizers, pesticides, water resources, and capital, as well as the staggered arrangement of the farming season.

Common Rotated Vegetables

Vegetables belonging to the same family in taxonomy should not be rotated, such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and sweet peppers, which belong to the Solanaceae family and should not be rotated.

Cucumbers

Spring cucumbers are mostly followed by autumn vegetables or spring vegetables and overwintering vegetables. The following crops can be various autumn vegetables, while summer and autumn cucumbers are suitable for various spring and summer vegetables, followed by overwintering vegetables or spring vegetables. Cucumbers and tomatoes inhibit each other and should not be rotated or intercropped.

Tomatoes

Rotate every 3 to 5 years without successive planting with Solanaceae crops, preceded by various leafy and root vegetables, and followed by leafy and root vegetables as well. They can be intercropped with short-stalk crops or vegetables such as mung beans, cabbage, bulb fennel, onions, and garlic.

In autumn greenhouses, intercropping with small vegetables can reduce ground temperature. Intercropping sweet corn in tomatoes can attract moths to lay eggs for centralized destruction.

Eggplants

Followed by overwintering leafy vegetables, and can be intercropped with short-season vegetables such as early-maturing cabbage, early-maturing Chinese cabbages, spring radishes, water radishes, and cherry radishes, followed by autumn vegetables such as Chinese cabbages.

The above is a comprehensive explanation of the methods for implementing crop rotation and staggered planting, hoping to solve your problems with green plants.