Effect of crop rotation and irrigation on wheat yield and water-use efficiency

Cereal-forage crop rotations and irrigation treatment effect on water use efficiency and crops sustainability in Mediterranean environment

“…As postulated by Hudson [29], Reeves [22] and Martiniello [4], the higher OM content in topsoil of wheat meadow and wheat mixture rotations than continuous wheat favour the mineralization of residues for producing nutrients cycling for SY, CP of kernel and microbial biomass in the rhizosphere [1,2,4].…”

“…The lower value of WUE of 1-yr in wheat meadow and wheat mixture SY than 2-yr and 3-yr rotations in wheat meadow under both irrigated treatment evidenced that the benefit of forage crop rotations expire its effect since the 2-yr wheat rotation (Figures 1(a), 4(b) and Table 3) [7,21]. According to Rinaldi and Ubaldo [12] and Cui et al [1], the higher values of WUE of the wheat meadow and wheat mixture rotations under irrigated than rainfed treatment, was a consequence of the delay of vegetative cycle (on average 12 days, data not shown) of wheat favoured by water supply which exposed the organs of plant to a longer period of transpiration with a consequent use of water for respiration rather than WUE of physiological process [5,19,20].…”

“…Crop rotation management is the agronomic practices able safeguard ecological sustainability of the environments and fertility of the topsoil [1,2]. Comparison among experiments based on crops cultivation with chemical inputs vs crop rotations evidenced higher effect of rotation practices on gross product production, reliance of agronomic management and biological sustainability of the ecosystem.…”

“…However, adoption of rotation crops in farming system acknowledge agronomic benefit which reduced the ecological impact of environments on productivity and quality of agronomic gross products and on sustainability of soil organic matter [1,2,4,7].…”

Irrigation treatments, water use efficiency and crop sustainability in cereal-forage rotations in Mediterranean environment

“…Crop rotation is an indispensable agronomic practice able to preserve the ecological functions and sustainability of environments and topsoil fertility. Experiments based on crop rotation have highlighted the positive effects on crop yields and ecosystem sustainability (Martiniello, 2007;Cui et al, 2009;Tilman et al, 2009). However, particularly in environments with a Mediterranean-type climate in which water resource availability may be a limiting factor, long-term crop rotation is essential to sustain the turnover of soil chemical properties.…”