affected by rotation with legumes (Papastylianou, 1993). Ló pez-Bellido et al. (2000) showed, in a long-term ex-The present field study was undertaken to determine the effects periment, the strong response of wheat yield after faba of tillage systems on faba bean (Vicia faba L.) yield over 11 yr and the effects of tillage systems and residual N on faba bean yield, yield bean compared with fallow, chickpea (Cicer arietinum components, and N uptake over 4 yr in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), and continuous L.)-faba bean rotation under rainfed Mediterranean conditions. Tillwheat. Faba bean consistently fixed more N than either age treatments included no-tillage and conventional tillage. Nitrogen pea (Pisum sativum L.) or chickpea, even under drought fertilizer rates were 0, 50, 100, and 150 kg N ha Ϫ1 , applied only to conditions. The incorporation of harvest residues results wheat. The weather had a marked influence on seed yield, which in a significant net increase in soil N, provided there ranged from 587 to 2964 kg ha Ϫ1 . Thousand-seed weight rose with are no major nutrient constraints (Carranca et al., 1999).
increasing seed yield and seeds per pod, seeds per pod decreasedFaba bean is rarely the main crop in a farming system, with increasing pods per square meter, and harvest index rose with and it is seldom grown continuously on the same land.increasing seeds per pod but decreased with rising pods per squareThe most common practice is rotation of faba bean meter. Over the 11-yr study period, the tillage system did not significantly influence seed yield. However, in three rainy years, conven-