Importance of crop rotation

oscarcede (64)in #steempress • 6 years ago (edited)

Hi, friends steemians, today's topic is related to crop rotation, it is important to vary the crops, if we dedicate ourselves to cultivate only one type of crop in the same land, the time will come when the soil can no longer supply nutrients a Plants and they will grow atrophied. The soil needs to recover nutrients and this is achieved if we use the method of crop rotation.

So that there is a balance in the nutrients of the soil, we must plan our crops, we can not repeat the same crop in the same soil, because the nutrients will be depleted. We have to vary the crops. There are plants that absorb nutrients and others fix nutrients in the soil, such as nitrogen.

SourceThe crops must be planned, the crops tend to deplete the soil nutrients that are necessary chemicals for the growth of the plants. When we establish the same type of plantation in the same place, there is a depletion of nutrients in the soil. For example, corn absorbs nitrogen from the soil. If we want to replant the corn in the same place, we must first plant other types of plants, the most recommendable ones are the legumes that have the capacity to fix nitrogen in the soil, in this way we restore the lost nutrients.

Some crops return the nutrients that others take out, such as clover and peanuts that return nitrogen to the soil. Many farmers tend to alternate crops in the same field. In a year they can plant corn which requires a lot of nitrogen and the following year they can plant clover, or legumes such as beans, which are plants that have the capacity to take nitrogen from the atmosphere and fix it in the soil through their roots contributing these nutrients in the soil. This system or method of planting is what is known as the "crop rotation".

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Crop rotation method

This method or system of sowing consists of alternating plants with different nutritional needs in the same place and during different cycles to avoid the depletion of nutrients in the soil; If, on the other hand, we carry out repeated cultivation of the same species every year in the same field, we would have soil poor in nutrients and the plants would be weaker and with little development. So with the rotation of crops seeks to improve the nutrients in the soil to remain balanced and suitable for crops.

"Crop rotation is considered the ideal key to improve the sustainability and profitability of crops."

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Plants that provide nutrients to the soil.

Plants for their development need many microelements and macroelements, which are absorbed from the ground, among the main elements we have nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, although all are necessary, nitrogen is the one that most needs the plant. That is why in the rotation of crops we must plant plants that provide nitrogen to the soil, like those of the leguminous group because they are nitrogen fixers. This type of plants produce this element for their nutrition and, at the same time, they provide it to the soil.

How legumes process nitrogen?
Legumes to process nitrogen, use rhizobia (Rhizobium leguminosarum) which are bacteria that form in a kind of capsules called nodules that appear in the roots of plants. These bacteria take nitrogen from the atmosphere to convert it to available nitrogen for the plant. While the plant provides organic components obtained by photosynthesis.

SourceThe rhizobia are always on the ground and are activated when we sow legumes. These bacteria enter through the roots of the plants and lodge in small bags called nodules.

SourceSo it is important that in the rotation of crops, legumes are included since this group of plants have the capacity to fix nitrogen from the air in the roots and then pass it to the soil.